Come Back To Me
by evgrrl09
Summary: Three years after his kidnap and supposed murder, Garcia continues to search for Morgan while raising their daughter. M/G. NO character death within, so don't worry.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**I know I'm in the middle of "Obsession" right now, but I couldn't get this out of my head, so I started it :) It's pretty sad to start with, but me being me, it will end happily! Reviews are welcomed as always.**

At first she thought he was just late coming home from the airport. Hotch was letting it be his last one, at least until their daughter was born. They'd been picking out names and she was looking through the tabbed pages they'd both marked together. Finally at midnight she'd grown concerned and called Hotch, wondering what the holdup might be. Hotch said the last they'd seen of him was getting in his car, leaving to return home to her.

She'd gone to bed, worry filling her heart.

The next morning she'd hoped he would be at work, but he wasn't. A phone call came in for her later from the police, saying his car had been found on the side of the road in a ditch. There was no sign of a driver anywhere and the brake lines had been cut. It was considered kidnaping because no body could be found.

The BAU launched a full-fledged investigation into his disappearance. There wasn't much to go off of until a week after he'd been missing, the unsub had contacted them using a disposable cell phone.

"_Where have you taken him?" Penelope cried into the phone under the team's strict supervision. "Please, I'll do anything! Just let him go!"_

"_There's nothing you can do. Your precious Derek Morgan is dead," the auto-toned voice said into the phone._

"_No!" she screamed in an inhuman voice laced with despair._

"_I killed him." A booming laugh filled the round table room next to Penelope's sobbing. "I cut him open from every surface of his body and only when his screams of pain dissipated did I end his torture. You see, it's not much fun to cut someone when they don't scream." A haunting giggle filled the room before he continued. "Do you want to know his last words before I stabbed him through the heart? He said ' Penelope…' Just that one little word!" He was clearly enjoying hearing Penelope sob. He paused a moment. "A photograph should be arriving for you all via text message in three…two…one!" Sure enough everyone's phones signaled incoming text messages. No one moved at first. Hotch was the first to look at the gruesome picture of Derek's battered face._

_The reactions of Penelope's team were varied when they saw the picture: Rossi bent his head before pulling the still sobbing Penelope into his arms; Reid had sat down in a chair, his eyes wide and jaw slack; JJ was crying into her hands while Emily, who was trying not to let her tears fall, held her hand; Hotch was staring stony-faced at the ground._

"_Good-bye Penelope," the voice said. "Kiss your unborn, __fatherless__ child for me!"_

Only a few days after the phone call that ended her life Penelope gave birth to a completely healthy baby girl.

"_What's her name, Kitten?" Rossi asked. He and JJ had helped her through her sixteen hour labor and were standing by her side as she held her daughter for the very first time._

_Stroking the little cheek of her baby girl, Penelope sniffled. "Georgiana," she murmured, thinking of the name Derek had become particularly attached to. She looked at them for a moment. "Gigi for short." She returned her gaze to her baby. When Gigi opened her eyes, Penelope bent her head to cry more; Gigi had her father's eyes._

XXXXX

Three years passed by and Penelope raised Gigi by herself. After the initial grief of the phone call, she began to question the whole situation.

"_They never found a body, Hotch!" she said hopefully as she was holding her daughter and her boss had stopped by. "We only got pictures of his head! He could still be alive and we just have to find him."_

_Hotch looked at her sadly. "Penelope, just because we never found a body doesn't mean he's not dead. The likelihood that he's alive in captivity a year after he was taken…the odds are a million to one."_

The team watched with every passing month as their once bubbly Penelope slipped away from them. She devoted every moment of her life to her daughter when she wasn't at the BAU. Gigi was her last connection to Derek; she would never let her go if she could help it. They didn't feel the need to worry over her every second of the day.

But what they didn't know was that every night after Penelope put Gigi to bed, she would pull out two large binders she'd collected over the past three years since Derek had gone missing without a trace. Each one was filled with both memories and newspaper clippings. Pictures of the two of them, missing person papers, articles about crimes that had similar MOs to what they knew of their unsub. Most nights she stared through them until well after midnight. Sleep almost never came to her; she couldn't keep her eyes closed for very long. So she filled the nights with endless searching.

There seemed to be nothing though…there _was_ nothing.

Every evening before she put her binders away, she would look at a picture of her and Derek that JJ had taken. It was no particular day. It was just the two of them on the beach. Derek had his arms wrapped around her from behind and his chin rested on her neck. Penelope's head was leaning back against him so she could kiss his cheek while still attempting to smile at the camera. It was perfect.

She traced the outline of his face with her index finger nail and she whispered four single words.

_Come back to me._

**So mostly backstory for the prologue. And it will be happier. Let me know what you think! I'd love to hear :)**


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Here's chapter two of my sad story :( Hope you all enjoy! Also a hint as to what happened to Derek!**

"Gigi!" Penelope called from the kitchen into the living room. Her three year old daughter was supposed to be sitting in front of Saturday morning cartoons, but a gigantic boom that could be heard from the kitchen alerted Penelope that something other than that was going on. She hurried from her loading of the dishwasher and found Gigi sitting on the floor, a teary-eyed expression on her face. "Gee, what's wrong?" she asked, kneeling front of her sputtering daughter. "What happened?"

"I was bouncing on the couch and I fell and hurt my knee," she whimpered. But despite her voice, the tears hadn't fallen from her eyes onto her cheeks and Penelope knew she was holding them back with all her might. It was just like Gigi to do something like hiding her pain. Every single time she fell off her tricycle, bumped her knee on something, or got a scratch, she was always holding the tears at bay. Nothing frightened the little girl. She was so fearless and that scared her mother to death to think of what it would be like when she was older.

Gigi was just like her father. She was just like Derek Morgan, right down to her eyes.

"Oh, baby," Penelope cooed. She pulled Gigi into her lap and kissed her head, rocking her back and forth in her arms. "You gonna be okay?" she asked softly.

Gigi nodded in her arms. "Yeah, Mommy," she murmured, blinking the tears away until they were completely gone. "I'm okay." She cuddled into her mother momentarily, but then she pulled away, the booboo she'd just received entirely forgotten. Her face grew excited immediately. "Mommy, will you tell me a story?" she begged, putting her hands together in classic begging position. She stuck her bottom lip out.

Penelope sighed. The dishes could wait and her child knew how to play her just right. "Okay," she agreed. "What do you want to hear a story about?"

"Will you tell me a story that's exciting? One with a Prince who saves the Princess?"

Smiling, Penelope nodded and motioned for Gigi to come sit on her lap again. Kissing the top of her soft curly haired head, she started to tell her a daughter a story. "Once upon a time, there was a prince, who lived in a huge, beautiful castle and caught bad guys all the time. Really bad men who threatened the safety of everyone in the entire kingdom."

"Did he even fight some dragons?" Gigi asked excitedly. "And goblins and trolls and witches?"

"Yes, even the goblins and trolls and witches," Penelope assured her. "So this Prince, he worked so hard to keep everyone safe. And one day, he met a girl. At first he asked what her name was, but the other Prince who he had asked told him the wrong name. So when she didn't respond to the wrong name, he shouted out, 'Hey, Baby Girl!' And then the girl turned around, very slowly because she didn't know if he was actually talking to her at first. When she saw that it _was_ her the Prince was talking to, she asked, very confused because she didn't know why he was calling her such a name, 'Baby Girl?'

"This Prince was _so_ incredibly handsome that she thought he was almost too good to be true. She thought he was almost…god-like. And then he said, 'I'm sorry, I just didn't know –' But this girl interrupted him saying, 'I've been called worse. What can I do for you?'"

"The Prince wanted to _marry_ her right? Because she was so beautiful?" Gigi asked, a brilliant grin – another trait she took from her father – covering her face.

Penelope almost stopped for a moment. Derek had once told her that it was that moment when she turned around and told him she'd been called worse names than "Baby Girl" that he'd fallen in love with her.

"_You're serious?" she asked incredulously one morning as they were laying under the covers still, neither of them wanting to get up and go to work. "You fell in love with me _then_?"_

_He grinned at her and tweaked her nose. "Hell yes that was when I fell in love with you! And you know how I know that?" She shook her head. He picked up both her hands and kissed each of her wrists, the soft hairs of his beard tickling her slightly. She shivered at the feel of his lips in such an intimate act that was so filled with love it made her heart burst open and melt happiness to every other part of her body. "Because I have never felt like that for any woman. Ever. You are the only one that awakened that feeling inside of me and ever since it's been burning through me."_

_At first she was silent, but then she slapped his chest playfully and rolled on top of him to straddle his waist. "You're such a sap!" she accused him in a fit of giggles. Then she leaned forward and started to tease his lips with hers. "I love you, Derek," she murmured._

"_And I love you," he whispered back._

Choking past the lump in her throat, she continued with her story. "Something like that," she managed, trying to think how normal fairy tales went. Her relationship with Derek had been anything but a fairy tale. It had been filled with immeasurable happiness and love that it was too much for a simple story to comprehend. "But anyway, this girl needed to find something for him. He had a task for her to do. So she set about doing it and afterwards they became the best of friends."

"And _then_ they got married?" Gigi asked impatiently.

Penelope shook her head. "No, baby. It was many, many years before they got married. Almost ten, in fact. But the entire time they loved each other very, very much. She was his God-given solace. That's what he called her."

Gigi frowned. "What does _that_ mean?" she asked in confusion, her eyebrows going together.

She laughed. "It means that she was the person in the world he could rely on and love the most," she explained as best she could. "It means that he loved her very much. So much that he would do anything for her and she would do anything for him."

Her daughter let out a happy sigh. "That's so pretty," she concluded. "And did that Prince save the girl from a dragon? Because lots of Princes save the girls from dragons."

Penelope laughed, but it didn't quite meet her eyes. "Of course the Prince saved the girl from a dragon," she said. She tried to think of a creative way to describe Battle in terms of a dragon. "He protected her until the dragon was slain at last." She kissed the top of Gigi's head. "And years later, the girl got so fed up with hiding her feelings that she told the Prince how she felt. He didn't know how to react at first so when he didn't say anything she thought that he didn't truly feel the same way about her."

"But he did! He did feel the same way!" Gigi protested. "Mommy, you're not telling the story right. The Prince loves her."

"Honey, I'm getting there," she soothed.

"But –" Gigi blubbered.

"Do you want me to keep telling the story or not?" Penelope asked. Gigi looked like she had something to say, but instead she just huffed and settled back down. "Okay then, where was I? Oh! Okay, so after the girl returned home, the Prince sat in his castle forming a plan to tell her that he _did_ in fact love her. So when he finished his plan, he showed up at her home and told him every word of how he truly felt. The words were the most beautiful words she'd ever heard. So they started to do this…thing people do when they want to explore that love."

A dreamy smile overtook Gigi's face and she said, "They got married!"

"Not just yet," Penelope said, trying to hide her smirk. Apparently her daughter wanted the fictional representations of her parents to get married. "But they did get married…six months later."

Gigi huffed. "_Finally_! I thought it would be forever before they got married." She grinned. "So what happened next? Did they happily ever after?"

Even three years after Derek had disappeared she still grieved like it was yesterday. Tears burned in her eyes. How was she supposed to handle this? She couldn't tell her daughter that the story ended badly; she didn't have the heart to do it. So swallowing back her grief, she said, "Yes. They lived happily ever after."

XXXXX

Gigi was tucked into bed and breathing deeply by eight o'clock when Penelope poured herself a glass of wine and sat down on the couch, ready for another sleepless night. Tomorrow was Monday and she would have to go to work and take Gigi to daycare beforehand. She hated being apart from her daughter. She was the number one priority in Penelope's life. Since losing Derek, she worried every second that she would lose Gigi. The only she even trusted with her daughter were the rest of the BAU team and Fran Morgan. If she was doing something with JJ or Emily, Hotch, Rossi, and Reid were the only people she thought of calling. Fran came to town twice a year to see her granddaughter and other than that Gigi was always with Penelope.

She sighed deeply before sipping her wine again. Life had become too hard without Derek and telling Gigi the story earlier had only made her heart ache for him even more. Their connection was so intense that when he disappeared she felt like her heart had been ripped from her chest and she was left with a gaping, bleeding hole. Only a few days after they'd received the call from the unsub who claimed to have killed him she'd given birth to Gigi and she had to patch up that wound as best she could to take care of her daughter.

Pulling the binders from their place from the coffee table drawer, she began her evening ritual of pouring through them, looking for an answer to where her missing husband might be.

XXXXX

Derek Morgan sat staring at the ceiling of his makeshift cell that had been his home for the past three years. Time had become just a name to him. He had no concept of it anymore. The chain-link walls kept him caged in like an animal and he hated every second of it. If people thought he spent hours restless when he had been a free man, he would blow them away now with all the pacing he did. Rarely did he sleep; all he could do in his dark cell was think. He thought about his life before the miserable excuse for one he was living now. He thought about his wife and his daughter whom he had never met. Every single day he thought about them and how much he wanted to get back to them. The thought crossed his mind that Penelope might have found someone else and another man might be raising his daughter, but he tried to keep those thoughts from his head.

All he wished for the both of them was happiness and if she found that in someone else, then so be it.

The jingling of a pair of keys could be heard and he looked down from the ceiling to glare at the man entering his cell. It was Marley. He held out a pair of handcuffs and motioned for Derek to stand up. "C'mon Morgan," he ordered gruffly. "The boss wants to see you." Derek glared at his captor – he was one of many – and remained sitting. Marley knelt down in front of him and grinned wickedly. "Get up, or I tell the boss you've been misbehaving. And you know what misbehaving means…your little girl gets taken from her happy little life. And you don't want that." Derek let out a grunt, but rose almost immediately as the words left Marley's mouth and allowed him to put the handcuffs around his wrists. He was significantly thinner than before his capture and the handcuffs shook loosely on his wrists. If it weren't for his hands being so wide, they would've fallen off completely. Marley put his hand roughly on his haggard shoulder and pushed him forward out of the cell. "Good boy," he snickered.

All Derek could do was clench his fists. There was nothing he could do. If he wanted his family to remain unharmed, he had to remain passive. It was his job now. His most important one.


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Thank you for the reviews, guys! I very much appreciate them :) Here's the next one and there's more about what happened to Derek too!**

"Have a good day, Gee," Penelope said, kissing her daughter goodbye as she dropped her off at the daycare the FBI had. "I'll come pick you up at five, okay?"

Gigi nodded vigorously at her mother. "Okay, Mommy," she said, hugging her tightly before bouncing off to join her friends. Penelope watched her a moment before hurrying off to the elevator to go up to the BAU floor. On the way she ran into Hotch and she smiled as best she could at him.

"Hey bossman," she said as the two of them got into the elevator. "Have an okay weekend?"

He nodded. "Good enough," he responded. "Jack had a soccer game Saturday morning." He let loose one of his rare smiles. "Scored the first and last goal of the game," he added proudly. He glanced over at Penelope and asked, "How about yours? Was your weekend okay?"

"Oh, it was fine," she said nonchalantly, focusing her eyes on the doors of the elevator. "Gigi decided to educate me on what a _real_ fairy tale is. Apparently the Prince and the pretty girl are supposed to get married right away…not wait ten years to get married!" The words left her mouth before she realized that Hotch would figure out exactly who the story was based on. Silently she cursed herself. The team wasn't supposed to know she kept searching and hoping and grieving for Derek. They were supposed to think she'd moved on. This would be a giant step backwards.

The elevator dinged as they got to the BAU floor and Hotch asked quietly, "You started telling her about Derek finally?"

Mustering as much courage as she could to look at her boss in the eye, she turned to face him and shook her head. "No," she mumbled. "It was just a story." She felt empty all of the sudden. What she'd told Gigi had been anything but "just a story." It was the most important story to Penelope there ever could be. To even say the words that it was a mere story made her feel weak in the knees and the immediate urge to sit down. Glancing up at the clock, she sighed and said, "Well, look at the time! I'd better get my babies fired up!" And without another glance back at Hotch, she hurried off so she wouldn't have to face his probing stare.

XXXXX

"How's she doing?" Rossi asked after noticing Hotch's exchange with Penelope in which she looked like she was about ready to break down.

Hotch shook his head. "She thinks we don't know what' going," he said. "Last time I was there, she'd left some binders out on the couch. I thought they might be something for a case. Rossi, she's still looking for him. There were pictures, article clippings, police reports."

"We knew she was pretending to handle it well," Rossi said sadly. He hated seeing their once bright and bubbly tech kitten as a hollow shell of herself. "Should we talk to her about it?"

Sighing, Hotch shook his head again. "We can later," he said. "Right now we've just caught a major case."

Reluctantly Rossi agreed. He wanted to focus more on helping Penelope now, but if the case was as big as Hotch's face was making it out to be then there was no time. The two of them would have to wait until later to have the conversation they'd both been dreading since Penelope had begun to fake moving on from Derek.

XXXXX

"What have we caught?" Prentiss asked as the team filtered into the room.

Penelope had already pulled up the case information on the screen and was getting ready to present the case to the team. "A bad one," she said grimly. She caught Rossi's eye and knew that Hotch must have said something to him about the conversation they'd had in the elevator. Silently she cursed her luck. She would have to come up with a good excuse now as to why she'd said what she had. Clearing her throat, she started explaining what exactly they would be profiling. "Police in DC came across these two bodies – Billy Connors and Henry Smith – in an alley. Both men had a lot of healing bruises and broken bones that didn't heal properly, but what the coroner determined really killed them was the point blank shots to their skulls. Both of them were shot from behind in the head." She clicked on her remote and a few crime scene photos popped up. Penelope didn't even flinch. It was another thing that had changed about her since Derek had been gone; the blood and gore of her job didn't make her queasy as it once had.

"Why was the BAU called in?" Reid asked. "It looks like two brutal murders…nothing particularly difficult for the locals." Penelope clicked again to reveal another crime scene photo with brands on the men's wrists. The burns were in the shape of a clenched fist with what looked like droplets of blood dripping down it.

Hotch nodded. "They called us in because of these," he explained. "It's the sign for the Drakoni drug circle. But what's unique about this ring is that they also have underground boxing tournaments. If the men refuse to fight, this happens to them and their families that they were taken from. After these bodies were found, their families were taken into protective custody."

"So these men decided to fight back and because of that were executed," JJ finished.

"Right," Hotch said. "And they need us to come in and help them at the DC station." He turned to Penelope. "Garcia, I need you to come with us. Can you call Fran to come and be with Gigi?" He knew all about the trust issues Penelope had with the rest of the world when it came to her daughter. The only people outside of the ones in the room with them she would allow to stay with her daughter were Derek's mother and sisters. No one else, no exceptions.

Penelope nodded. "I'll call her right now," she said. "If she can't, Sarah or Desiree should be able to make it."

"Good," he said, rising from the table. "We're heading out of here in half an hour. Get your things gathered and we'll be heading into DC."

XXXXX

Marley pushed Derek into the lush office that belonged to Ivan Drakoni, or "the boss" as he more affectionately referred to as. He stumbled to a stop in front of the giant mahogany desk where Drakoni was lounging leisurely and smoking a fat cigar. Derek stared at him with as much hate as his heart could muster. This was the man who'd taken him from his family and used him as a tool in his sick games. It was fair to say if looks could kill then Drakoni would be dead on the floor with a shocked look on his overly smug face.

"Ah, Morgan," he boomed, tapping some ash off his cigar into an ashtray. "Just the man I wanted to see!" He rose from his seat and put one hand in his pocket, walking around to stand in front of him. He blew a smoke ring that encircled Derek's face before disappearing into the air. When Derek didn't react, he laughed. "Ever the civil disobedient one of my collection. You truly are my favorite. It is such a shame that I took you from such a pretty wife. What's her name? Patricia?" He looked at Derek expectantly, waiting for an answer.

When Derek didn't give it, Marley struck him across the back of the shins with a nightstick. He winced and gritted his teeth. "Answer him!" Marley hissed.

"Penelope," Derek whispered. An image of her filled his mind and he tried desperately to hold onto it before Drakoni's voice broke through again.

"Penelope, that's right!" he laughed. "How could I forget such a pretty name like _Penelope_? And your daughter! You've never met her have you?" Derek's jaw clenched at mention of his daughter. He didn't even know her name; Penelope and he hadn't decided on one before he was taken. His eyes met Drakoni's and he glared at the steely gray orbs that he'd come to hate more than anyone else's in the world, even more than Carl Buford's.

"Did you bring me here to taunt me about my family or did you have something in particular you wanted to talk to me about?" he growled, earning himself another blow from Marley's nightstick.

"You've got a fight tomorrow night," Drakoni said bluntly, putting his cigar out on the ashtray. "I've got a lot of money riding on you and if you win then your little family goes untouched. You lose and I have to do something."

"Why can't you leave them out of this?" Derek asked hardly, panic filling his chest. "Punish _me_ if I lose. I don't know, have Marley over there beat me with his toy until I can't walk."

A snicker arose from Marley. "I would love to," he said with a sly grin.

"Because that's not the deal," Drakoni said. "You need stronger incentive than the rest of the boys. From day one I knew I would have to get to you through that woman and your daughter. You don't give a shit what happens to you. But them, them you care about. So if you don't win me that fight tomorrow, I do something to them."

"I've never lost a fight," Derek ground out.

Drakoni smiled wickedly. "I know that," he said. "Between my product and your constant fear I'm going to harm your family you make the perfect fighter." He went back around to his desk and grabbed a bag of white powder. "This is new," he explained. "You're my guinea pig. We'll see how it works for you." He handed the bag to Marley. "Make sure he takes this." He looked back at Derek and smiled wickedly. "See you tomorrow, Morgan!" He said it as if they were old friends.

Glaring at him one last time, Derek was shoved out of the office by Marley and urged in the direction of the Preparation Chamber. The whole way there, he kept his head bent. His spirit was broken. Drakoni knew exactly what to do to get Derek to fight for him. All he had to do was threaten to harm Penelope or his daughter and he had Derek doing his bidding like a loyal dog. Every time he entered the prepping room, Derek reminded himself that what he was doing was the one and only way to keep his family safe.

It was the only thing that kept him going.


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Here's the third chapter! I love your reviews…keep 'em coming :)**

"Thanks for agreeing to come out Fran," Penelope said into the phone just before the SUV pulled into the precinct where they were setting up for working the Drakoni case. "I appreciate it a lot. I don't know when I'll be able to come home."

"Anytime, Penelope," she said warmly. "Getting to see my grandbaby is always a treat. I'll pick her up as soon as I get into Quantico."

"Yep, I already told them that you were coming to pick her up," Penelope confirmed. The car had pulled to a stop and Hotch signaled it was time to go in. "Tell Gee I love her."

"Will do, sweetie," Fran said as Penelope hung up the phone. She sighed as she shouldered her bag and got out of the car behind Reid. Fran Morgan loved coming and seeing Gigi, but she knew it was painful for her because of Derek's disappearance. They were all on standby for when Gigi was old enough to hear about her father so that they could be there to help Penelope through the stories.

The whole team entered the precinct and was greeted warmly by the head detective. "You must be the Behavioral Analysis Unit," she said, sticking her hand out to shake Hotch's. "I'm Detective Sanchez, head detective. I was just a regular officer when you were here last time, so you wouldn't have met me. It's good to see you again."

"Thank you. I'm Agent Hotchner, and these are Agents Rossi, Prentiss, and Jareau. This is Dr. Reid and our technical analyst Penelope Morgan," Hotch said, gesturing to the rest of the team.

Sanchez furrowed her brow. "Wasn't there an Agent Morgan?" she asked. "Is he still coming?" An uncomfortable silence covered the whole of the team and Penelope visibly stiffened and her jaw hardened. Sanchez looked around at them in confusion. "So, he's not joining us?"

Penelope strode forward coolly. "No," she said through gritted teeth. "He will not be joining us. Now, is there somewhere that I can set up? I need to get my computers set up so I can start going through what you've got." Her look was so frigid that Hotch was sure Sanchez would fold under her gaze; she looked frightened.

"Yes, of course," she said, motioning for an officer to come forward. "You can follow Officer Hanson. He'll get you set up." She nodded for Hanson to take Penelope to a conference room.

"Thank you," Penelope said in a hard tone before following the police officer away.

Sanchez looked after Penelope with an odd look on her face. She walked over to the rest of the team again and looked to Hotch. Jerking her thumb in Penelope's direction, she asked, "What's her problem?"

Rossi looked at the head detective and couldn't believe how much she didn't see. "Agent Morgan was her husband," he said incredulously. _Thank God this woman didn't want to be a profiler._ Judging by the look on Hotch's face, he was thinking the same thing.

The head detective bit her lip. "Ah, I see," she said, looking down a moment. "Well, I think we should get to work on the case. I've got the family members of the victims in two different conference rooms."

Hotch looked at the rest of the team. "Okay, Prentiss and Reid, I want you two to take the Connors family. Rossi and JJ take the Smith family," he said. "I want you to find out how much they knew about the victims' activities. I want to know everything they knew. Find out everything. As soon as we talk to the families we're going to the site where the bodies were dumped."

"What are you going to do?" Sanchez asked in confusion.

"I'm going to go talk to my technical analyst," he said, walking off in the direction Penelope had gone.

XXXXX

"Mrs. Connors, I'm Agent Prentiss and this is Dr. Reid…we're with the FBI," Prentiss said as she and Reid entered the conference room where Billy Connors' widow was sitting with her face covered by her hands. "We're very sorry for your loss." She sat down next to Mrs. Connors and folded her hands.

She was silent for a moment. When she spoke her voice came out scraggly, like it had been dragged through a field of glass. "Thank you," she murmured, her voice devoid of emotion. "I appreciate it."

"Mrs. Connors, we need to ask you a few questions about your husband's disappearance," Reid said gently. "Now, how long had he been gone before they found his body?"

She looked up at them with bloodshot eyes, the pain very apparent in her eyes. "He'd been missing for almost a year," she said sadly.

"Did you notice anything strange regarding his disappearance? Did he leave any notes, did he leave a message on the phone?"

She shivered a moment before answering. "There was something," she said. "I told the police about it, but they didn't…find anything to support a theory." She paused before continuing. "About a week after he first disappeared, I received a phone call from someone."

"Did this person leave a name?"

Again, Mrs. Connors shook her head. "No, they didn't leave a name," she replied. "They used a device to cover the sound of their voice so it sounded like a robot was speaking. And they, they started telling me how they had killed –" She stopped to sniffle. "They told me they killed him by cutting him up until he stopped screaming. They said the last word he said was my name…" She put her hand over her eyes and wept silently for another moment. The moment left both Prentiss and Reid the opportunity to glance at each other. What Mrs. Connors was describing was sounding just like what they'd heard on the phone when Penelope had Derek taken away from her. "After that they sent me a text message with a picture of his battered face attached, saying it was proof that he was dead."

It took both Reid and Prentiss a moment to find their voices. "Er, did you believe he was dead?"

Mrs. Connors looked at him with her agonized face. "Dr. Reid, I didn't want to let him go," she said. "I knew he was probably dead. I just…I just didn't want it to become real."

Prentiss nodded. "Of course," she whispered. Again, she and Reid exchanged glances. They would have to talk about what they'd just heard with Hotch. "We just have to talk to you about a few other things and we can be on our way…"

XXXXX

Penelope was typing away furiously, getting into the records she needed for the case. Tears were blurring her eyes and she had to force herself to calm down and not go find Detective Sanchez and beat her brain out of her head with her laptop. Had she not heard Hotch when he'd introduced the team…Penelope _Morgan_? Was she so dense that she honestly didn't hear that? She was sitting at the table in front of her computer and at the moment she wanted nothing more than to see her daughter. It was the only thing that would make her feel better.

"Penelope?"

She looked up to see Hotch standing in the doorway and coming into the room to sit beside her. "Oh, hey Hotch," she said quietly. Blinking her tears away, she smiled at him and gestured to the computer screens that were booting up. "I should be able to get in to see all the records in just a few minutes." She noticed he was studying her and she sighed. "That's not why you're in her to talk to me though…is it?"

He shook his head. "No, it's not," he said. "I need to make sure you're okay so that this job won't be a problem."

Snorting, she said, "As long as you keep me away from Detective Sanchez, I'll be fine." She saw his look and added, "No, I won't change her permanent record."

"Penelope, I think you might need to talk to someone," he said.

She fixed him with a hard look. "Hotch, I spoke to _several_ different people. You made me right after Derek disapp – dis –" She coughed. She could hardly say the word.

"This is exactly why I think you need to speak to someone," he argued. "Penelope, I know you're not dealing with his disappearance the way you've been faking it for the last year and a half. And I know that you're not letting it get in the way of the cases or taking care of Gigi, but you're only hurting yourself. It's a dark road you're going down. You can't hide this pain you're going through." He figured he wouldn't mention the binders he'd found. They didn't have time. But he did need to clear the air with her to let her know he was there for her.

"I need to finish this case so I can go home to Gigi," she said in a tone harsher than she intended.

He nodded. "Okay then," he said. "But if you need anything, I want you to know that I'm here for you. I'm all ears when you want to talk. And when you're ready to tell Gigi about her father, I'd be more than willing to help you out."

Smiling, she nodded. "I'm ready to go through the records," she said. "I'll let you know when I find something."

"Good," he said, patting her should comfortingly as he stood up.

He was on his way out of the room when she added, "Oh and sir?" He turned around and she nodded slightly. "Thank you."

"Anytime Penelope," he said.

XXXXX

"Anything?" Hotch asked the team when they'd finished their interviews. All of them looked like they'd seen ghosts. "What? Is everything alright?"

Reid was the first to speak. "Both widows described two very similar phone calls that occurred about a week after their husbands disappeared."

"Similar? In what way?"

"Hotch, both women described phone calls identical to the one Penelope received a week after Derek disappeared," Rossi said. "Everything was there: the auto-tuned voice, the description of how he was killed, the text message. It was all there."

Hotch frowned and he glanced through the window of the conference room where Penelope was. "What are you saying?"

"Hotch, we're saying that we think the Drakoni drug ring might have Derek," JJ said, her eyes wide. "We're saying he might still be out there somewhere."


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Here's chapter 4! I'm so honored for all the reviews you guys leave me…I love reading them :) Here's the next one.**

**Warning: Some violence.**

Hotch was silent for a moment, taking in the information the team had made known to him. He'd never even considered Derek might be in the clutches of a drug ring and being forced to fight. But it would explain why they'd not found a trace of him in three years. Anyone using men for fighters and threatening families would be getting a lot from Derek. He'd dominate any fighting ring to keep his wife and child safe from harm. "You're positive on this information?" he asked quietly, pulling the whole team into a vacant room. "We're sure?"

Rossi nodded. "Both widow tell the same exact story," he confirmed. "Every detail is the same."

Prentiss nodded in agreement. "The auto-tuned voice, the description of the death being cut up to shreds, the photos via text message of their battered heads," she added.

"Don't forget the last words being their names," Reid interjected. "It's there Hotch. Morgan might still be alive! This is…it's amazing!" The rest of the team nodded in excitement, like Christmas had come early for small children. It was in their eyes, dancing under the fluorescent lights of the station conference room.

Hotch, too was excited, but when he glanced out the conference room to look into the one Penelope was in, still working away furiously, something stalled his happiness. They couldn't tell her just yet what they'd found out. If it turned out to be nothing but false hope and Derek _was_ actually dead, it would break her heart irreparably to relive the grief. Turning to the rest of the team again, he sighed. "We'll pursue the lead, but no one tell anything about this to Penelope. Not just yet anyway," he said. "If it's nothing and he's not alive, it would just be making her go through the same thing all over again."

"But – but –" Reid sputtered, his spirit looking crushed.

Hotch shook his head sharply. "My decision is fine, Reid," he ordered. He took note of the time. "We have to go check out the scene. Let's move."

XXXXX

Derek had just been forced to take whatever new, dangerous drug Drakoni needed tested. Currently he felt nothing more than a little wired, like two gallons of energy drink had been injected directly into his blood stream. He hoped that was all the drugs would do to him. Marley had hit him the entire time he was "prepping" for the fight with his favorite nightstick, but after three years of it Derek was beyond caring no matter how hard he struck. It was when he started taunting him about his family that he truly felt the pain that Marley was going for.

"You know, that pretty little daughter of yours is extremely cute," he said as Derek was being forced to take the nameless drug. "I've seen her before. I can't _wait_ until you lose a fight so I can do something to her. Maybe I'll scar up her pretty face. That'll be interesting to explain to her future boyfriends." He stroked his cobalt goatee thoughtfully. "Or maybe she'll have so many daddy issues she'll grow up to be a nasty whore. They usually do if they have daddy issues."

Derek had to resist the urge to punch Marley until he was nothing but a bloody pulp to be mopped up off the floor. But he'd learned long ago he couldn't do anything and he would have to control his feelings when it came to Marley. So instead of jumping to his feet and doing what he really wanted to do, he looked him directly in the eye with a lethal stare and said with confidence, "No…my daughter is going to grow up to be strong. She'll be smart, kind, resourceful. Penelope will make sure of it. She'll grow up to follow her dreams and be the best person she can possibly be. And if that dream is fighting sons of bitches like you, then I hope she kicks all of your asses into the dirt and sends you straight to Hell."

Marley just leaned closer to Derek's face. "And you won't get to see any of it," he sneered.

XXXXX

By the time Marley had dragged Derek to the ring, Derek's vision was spinning and he could see dark spots in the corners of his sight line. Vaguely he could make out Drakoni shaking hands with the person he was supposedly making a deal with. He was stopped next to them and Drakoni slapped his shoulder. "Here's my prized fighter," he boomed. "Took this one three years ago. FBI, too," he added cheekily, slapping Derek on his back this time.

The other drug lord studied him. "Good piece of meat you go here, Ivan," he said appreciatively. "This the one who's never lost a fight?"

"This is him," Drakoni said, as if proud of a son. "Ready to win me half a mil in cash, Morgan?"

All he could do was grunt. For some reason he couldn't find his tongue. It felt like a ten ton block of cement was weighing his mouth down. Before he could say anything, he was thrust forward into the ring. He hadn't even seen what his opponent looked like before he was in the ring. Judging by the fist that smacked into his face, he was likely gargantuan. When he tried to see clearly, he barely made out what the man he was fighting looked like.

The best one word he thought of was mean.

It was clear to him these drugs were having a terrible effect on him.

But before he could get a solid hit in, his vision gave out on him again and another punch slammed into his jaw and he fell to the ground where he was punched repeatedly. He tried hitting him and swinging his fists at him, but all he got was air. Blood filled his mouth and for a moment he had to struggle to breathe for a moment. The adrenaline rushing through his veins made his movements to erratic and out of control. Nothing was visible and every sound hit his eardrums ten times the usual noise.

Finally he fell to the ground and lay there, barely comprehending that he'd lost the match. He couldn't make his limbs move. As his vision started to filter away, he saw Penelope, her face, her honey blonde hair, her bright trusting eyes and fear shot up his spine. He'd lost. What would happen to her? To their daughter? Had he had control of his body, he would panic. He would get down on his knees and beg for Drakoni to have mercy on them. To do whatever he wanted to him.

But he was powerless. Trapped within his own body.

The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Drakoni standing over him, shaking his head. "You lost me a lot of money, Morgan," he said with disappointment, patting his cheek. "I've got to take action."

XXXXX

Fran Morgan had just put Gigi to bed and was settling down to open a book before she herself went to bed. As she did, two binders on the coffee table peaked her interest. Both were full to bursting and she couldn't help but wonder what they were. When she opened them, her eyes teared up immediately. Each one was filled with memories of Derek. There were also article clippings having to do with crimes and Penelope's notes on how they might connect with Derek. Even after three years, her daughter-in-law was still searching for her husband. Desperately.

Wiping away some of her tears, Fran started to put the binders back, unable to look at the very long. She'd never quite understood Derek and Penelope's relationship. It was something almost otherworldly to her. They were so in tune with one another that there was nothing that could get in between them. When Derek had first disappeared and they were told that he was dead, Fran had spent two months with Penelope, helping her with both newborn Gigi and her pain. Whenever Gigi was asleep, Penelope could be found weeping on the couch, a picture of Derek on her lap. Fran could hardly count the minutes she'd spent holding her as she sobbed her heart out.

Leaving her was something she'd been concerned about, but Penelope was the absolute best mother to her daughter. She'd devoted her life to her child and put her pain aside to raise her.

Yanking her from her daydreaming, a knock on the door brought her back to reality. Sighing, she rose from the couch and headed to answer it. When she did, she found a fierce looking man standing there. Cautiously, she asked, "Can I help you?"

The man just snickered and pushed the door open, easily overpowering Fran. She tried to scream, but before any noise left her throat, he slammed her head into the wall and she fell to the ground, knocked out cold.

XXXXX

Marley crept through Penelope Morgan's house cautiously, not particularly caring about the woman he'd just knocked out. He'd seen her a few times while keeping an eye on the house, but she was irrelevant. It was Penelope and the little brat that mattered.

They would make Morgan most miserable if they were harmed.

He didn't know why he hated Morgan so much; there was something about him that just got under his skin. He was an itch that just couldn't be scratched, thus causing him to make his skin raw in an attempt to get it to go away. Torturing him about his family was practically Marley's favorite activity of the day.

As he walked through the house, he saw pictures of Morgan and his wife all over the house, lining the walls. He snorted. It was pathetic the way she kept the photos around, like she thought her love would just come home soon. Grabbing one of the pictures, he broke the frame and nicked photo from its place. It might just be useful in the future.

"Grammie?"

Marley turned to see Morgan's brat-standing in the hall, rubbing her eyes. He almost jumped with glee. His main target for the evening. "Hello…Gigi."

The little girl frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "Who're _you_?" she demanded. "Where my Grammie? Is my mommy home from work? Why are you here?"

_She's just like her bastard father_, Marley thought bitterly. Kneeling down, he said, "You ask an awful lot of questions. You get that from your father."

She looked confused for a moment. "Huh? My what?"

He laughed. "Oh, mommy hasn't told you about your daddy yet, has she?"

Gigi shook her head. "Er, no," she said, biting her little lip.

He snickered. Stepping closer, he grabbed her and scooped her up. She started to kick out and a scream escaped her lips.

"Gotcha," he said, holding the girl's mouth shut as she struggled in his grasp.


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Thank you for your patience with me! I'm going to college now and I've done the visit so I can do this and the rest of all my multi-chapters uninterrupted :) Thank you also for the reviews! Without further ado, here's the chapter numero 5!**

"So, do you, I don't know, maybe want to go get some coffee sometime?" Officer Hanson asked Penelope as she was sitting at her makeshift desk and typing away.

She looked up at him, startled. He'd only met her a few hours ago and was asked her to coffee? She didn't quite know how to react. Since Derek's disappearance she'd been asked out and denied every single man who'd asked. And truthfully she never wanted to date again. Unless it was Derek, she didn't want any man. Clearing her throat momentarily, she murmured, "Umm, that's very flattering, Jake –"

"My name's Jack," he said sheepishly.

She rubbed her eyes. "Jack…listen, I'm sure you're a wonderful guy," she tried again. "I'm just not…I'm not ready to start dat – I mean, I have a daughter and I'm a single mom. I just can't date right now."

"Did your daughter's father leave you?" he asked, stammering a laugh. "Because I can kick his ass if you want me to."

She looked up at him and her eyes narrowed. "Not that it's any of your business Officer, but he was taken from me. Someone kidnapped him," she snapped. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

His eyes grew wide and he sputtered, "Oh, I – I'm sorry." He was gone from the room before she could say anything else. Normally she would have felt bad about tearing into the officer, but when things came to Derek, she was willing to be mean. Rubbing her face, she pulled up a cell phone picture she still had of Derek and looked at it for a long moment, an ache building in her chest inside her ribcage. Sighing heavily, she put her phone down and returned to her work.

XXXXX

The team returned to the precinct after a relatively unsuccessful search at the body dump site. Penelope picked up the information she'd already gather to take to the team. She'd gone through bank records, medical records, the works on both the families and found nothing of value. So she'd proceeded to research the Drakoni ring. There wasn't a whole lot to go off of. What she did find was the type of me they took: bulky, well-muscled, confident. It reminded her of Derek. The bodies of men they did find were pumped so full of drugs that were likely harmful and hadn't even been named yet. All they knew about the leader was his name was Ivan Drakoni and there was no evidence to get him on. His record showed he'd gone to trial for two counts of second degree murder, but the jury had found him not guilty. Other than the trial, he'd done time for possession and gun-running. The tattoo that was branded onto them was a symbol of the power for the fights they conducted and to show they were the strongest of drug sellers.

It was all they had on them.

She was pouring herself a cup of coffee to keep herself refueled as it looked they would be there past nine pm when Hotch and the rest of the team back into the station. Taking a sip, she went to meet them with her folder of information in hand.

"What do you have for us, Kitten?" Rossi asked, unzipping his jacket. "Anything good?"

She pursed her lips. "Unfortunately no, my Italian Stallion," she said. "They haven't exactly made themselves easy to find. This is all I've got." She proceeded to list off everything she had found.

Hotch shook his head. "Look more closely into Ivan Drakoni's records. I want to know everything about him, not just his priors," he said. "This isn't going –" He was interrupted by Detective Sanchez running towards them anxiously.

"Excuse me," she said. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we just got a nine-one-one call about a breaking and entering."

Reid raised his eyebrows. "Er, how is this relevant to this case?"

Sanchez looked directly at Penelope. Almost immediately she felt like the blood had left her veins. A pit formed in her stomach that was nothing but rot and she felt like she might be sick. "This call came in for a Penelope Morgan from DC Mercy Hospital. Your mother-in-law was just taken to the ER."

Covering her mouth with her hand, Penelope went to stand closer to him. "Gigi?" Sanchez balked for a moment before she asked more harshly, "My daughter? What about my daughter?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "Whoever broke in took her."

XXXXX

Penelope's hysterics had calmed by the time she reached the hospital. Every bone in her body ached with the notion that someone had just taken her daughter. It was the thing she'd most feared since Gigi had been born. There were no words to describe the agony she was in. She felt like her world had ended. There was no rain of fire or gusts of howling wind at freeway speeds for her end. It was just an empty hollow feeling, one filled with the worst misery imaginable. The doctor took her to Fran and the police who would be helping her find Gigi. Fran was sitting with her head in her hands on a hospital bed when Penelope reached her.

"Fran?" she asked gently as she tentatively entered the room. Her mother-in-law looked so frail with her forehead bandaged up. It almost broke her heart even more to see her like that. The guilt-ridden look when she saw Penelope did. Her eyes teared up again and she went to sit next to her hospital bed.

"Penelope, I'm so, so sorry!" she cried. "That man pushed through the door and I tried to stop him, but –"

She hushed her. "Fran," she said. "We've got to talk to the police. This _wasn't_ your fault! We need to hold it together until the police and the BAU find Gee. Okay?" She had to bite her lip to keep from sobbing again. Fran nodded vigorously. Sighing unsteadily, Penelope turned to the policemen at the door. "We're ready for you, officers."

XXXXX

After Penelope's interview with the police, Hotch was waiting for her outside the room.

"_Aaron, you have to tell her about what we found out," Rossi argued as they waited for Penelope to be done talking with the police. "I think it's obvious what this is…the Drakoni ring knows we're onto them and they've taken Derek's daughter."_

"_Dave, we don't even know if Derek is still alive," Hotch replied. "And why would they take Gigi? Why wouldn't they just kill her?"_

"_They punish the families if the men they use to fight do something wrong," Rossi said. "It could be that! We have to tell her!"_

"_Tell her what? We don't even know if it is the Drakonis," Hotch returned in frustration. Sighing, he rubbed his face. "I know you want Derek to be alive. I do too. But there is no guarantee he is and telling Penelope will break her heart all over again."_

"_They have her daughter…her most potent connection to Derek," Rossi sighed. "It's a little late for sparing her from anymore heartbreak."_

_Hotch crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes to think. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at Rossi. "Alright. Get us a room to talk to her in. Alone."_

"Hey Hotch," she said hoarsely. "What's up?"

He breathed deeply. This was going to be a grueling conversation. Rossi was already waiting in an empty hospital board room to talk to her with him. "We need to talk," he said. He started leading her to the room Rossi was holding. Closing the door behind him, he took another deep breath. Penelope was looking at them with confusion. He motioned for her to take a seat, but she remained standing. Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest and suddenly Hotch was very afraid of her. When Penelope Garcia Morgan got angry, everyone could feel her wrath.

"We recently came across some information about…" His voice trailed off. He didn't know if he could meet her eyes at the moment.

Apparently he was too silent for too long. "Information about what?" she asked in confusion.

"We came across information about Derek," he said solemnly.

The color drained from her face. Tears filled her eyes and she bit her lip. Gasping slightly, she whispered, "I appreciate you telling me that you found something about Derek, but can it wait until we get Gigi back?"

Both men shook their heads. "Penelope, the reason we're telling you about it is because we think – we think they're connected," Hotch said cautiously. "The widows this morning at the station told us similar stories. They said a week after their husbands disappeared that they received phone calls from someone covering their voice. The caller told them both he'd cut their husbands up until they stopped a moment to watch her reaction to what he was saying. So far her eyes had grown wide and were bloodshot. His next few breaths came out sounding much less nervous than he really was. "They were sent battered headshots and told their husbands were dead."

Though she had yet to make a sound, Penelope's tears were spilling down her cheeks. "So you're saying that Derek is _alive_?" she whispered. "For sure alive?"

"Not for sure," Hotch warned her. "But it's possible the Drakonis have him alive still. They might've taken Gigi."

"Why would they take her?" she asked, her voice raising an octave.

"Either Derek is still alive and he did something they deem punishable…or they know the BAU is investigating the murders and they want to send a message."

The expression on Penelope's face was devastation, like her heart had been torn straight from her ribcage and she was bleeding out. Wiping her tears swiftly, she coughed a few times. When the coughing fit ended, she glared at Hotch. "You found this information out this morning that the Drakoni drug ring might have taken my husband," she started, "and you chose _not_ to tell me about it immediately?" Her face turned murderous. "You _knew _that Derek might still be alive and that these people hurt their families and you didn't think to tell me about it?"

Hotch tried to speak. "Penelope –"

"Don't 'Penelope' me!" she screeched. "If you had told me something about this, I could've told Fran to get Gigi out of there and none of this would have happened!" Her tears were pouring down her cheeks and she started losing control of her breathing. "How could you do that? How could you not tell me – how – how –" She sank into one of the chairs and wept into her hands. Rossi knelt down next to her and tried soothing her, but she continued to sob.

Hotch stood by, unsure of what to do. The only thing he was positive on was he was going to do everything in his power to find Georgiana Morgan.

XXXXX

The sound of a girl crying woke Derek. He was back in his cell again and he felt worse than if a truck had run over him. His face was sore and when he touched his jaw, it was swollen and painful. Sitting up, he looked around to find the source of the whimpers.

"Shut up you little brat!" Marley snarled. Derek looked out to find where the source of the crying was coming from. He saw Marley dragging a small child by the arm down the dim corridors of the chain link fences that housed other men Drakoni used for fighting occasionally. She couldn't have been older than three or four years old and she looked scared out of her wits. She looked like someone had just taken her from bed, no shoes on her feet and only a small pair of footie pajamas on her body.

"Please, I just want my mommy!" the girl sobbed. She struggled against Marley's grip, but he just tugged her harder. "Let me go! I want my mommy!"

"Do I look like I care?" he snapped.

Derek crawled on his hands and knees to the fence and held the fence in his fingers. He could hardly see out of one eye, but he yelled, "Hey Marley! Why're picking on that girl? Who is she?"

The little girl's eyes shot to Derek's and her lower lip quivered. Marley stopped her right in front of Derek's cell and put both his hands on her shoulders. "This is our latest resident," he snickered. "A certain someone failed her and now she's been dragged here…to this hellhole." He pouted his lips. "I know she's got a mommy who misses her very, _very_ much." He laughed maliciously. "And you know what?" He met Derek's eyes again. "I might just go cheer her up myself if I have any spare time. But right now I have to deal this lovely little lady." Chuckling, he added in a higher, feminine voice, "Mr. Ivan is expecting to you."

"No!" Derek hollered, shaking the fence. Suddenly all the pain from his physical injuries were gone. Everything became about the small child in front of him. She was staring at him with wide eyes, her sobs now sniffles and he felt his heart shattering. "Marley, I need to talk to Drakoni! Please!" He banged on the fence again. "Marley, c'mon man! Don't do this! Take her back to Penelope…I'll do anything!"

"Let me think about that…" Marley said, stroking his chin. "Huh, no." Laughing, he started to walk away with the little girl in tow. She was glancing back at him until Marley had pulled her around the corner.

"Marley! Marley, let her go! She's just a little girl!" he yelled. Even after Marley disappeared, he could hear his laughter and the little girl's cries and it all brought tears to his eyes. Sinking back from the fence so he was just on his knees, Derek put his head in his hands and wept.


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**I'm so obsessed with this story! Here's the next chapter, but there's no Penelope/BAU team…it's all Derek/Gigi interaction. Thanks for the reviews and I hope you enjoy :)**

"Well hello there little lady," Drakoni said, putting out his cigar and rising to his feet and going to stand in front of little Gigi Morgan. She stood with her lips quivering and her arms crossed over her chest. Her curly mahogany hair was pulled up in two pigtails and her almond shaped eyes were filled with fat tears. Drakoni had to stifle a smirk; the little girl had her father's eyes. They were an identical match. "Those are _very_ pretty pajamas you have on." He motioned at her baby blue butterfly pajamas she had on.

"Please can I see my mommy?" she whimpered, a few more tears spilling down her cheeks. "I just want my mommy."

Drakoni pouted mockingly at her. "You'll have to stick with someone else for right now." Looking back up at Marley, he ordered, "Marley, take our guest to Morgan's cell and lock her in with him. Let the two of them bond."

Marley looked shocked and stammered, "But sir –" He wanted Morgan to suffer, not get to meet the little brat.

"Do it," Drakoni ordered harshly. "Now." He watched as his right hand man grumbled and led the little girl out of the room. He was very interested in how the father-daughter meeting would go.

It would be very, very interesting.

XXXXX

Derek was still sitting with his head between his knees, still agonizing that his loss in the fight had caused his daughter to be brought to the hellhole; he knew Penelope would be worried sick.

"Knock, knock!" Marley was unlocking the cell. His face was filled with rage and he thrust the small girl into the caged off area. Knowing she would crash to the floor roughly if he let her fall, Derek shot forwards and held out his arms to catch her. She started crying and he held her gently. All Marley did was snicker. "The little brat won't last long here. I'll make sure of it." He grinned maliciously. "And neither will her mommy when I get my hands on her. Every second of her screaming will be like music to my ears. I'll be sure to film it for you."

Glaring at him, Derek spat, "You'll get what you deserve one of these days. And I swear to God, if I get out of here, you're not going to last very long because of what you've done to my daughter. And if you harm Penelope too, you'll get it ten times worse."

Marley just put his hands in his pockets and snickered before disappearing from view.

"Thank you." He looked down at where the small voice had come from in his arms. Hesitantly the two of them studied each other. Derek didn't quite know how to react. He was coming fact to face with his daughter for the very first time. He'd missed her first steps, her first words, her first everythings.

He didn't even know what her name was.

He didn't know what to say. But even though he was silent on the surface, inside he was reeling with emotions that he wasn't used to. He hadn't felt anything like it, at least in three years. Lifting the little girl up and setting her on her feet, he noticed she was looking at him like he looked familiar to her. He coughed a few times before croaking, "What's your name?"

Tilting her head to the side, she said, "My name's Gigi Morgan. My real name is Georgiana, but my mommy and my grammie and everyone else calls me Gigi. Or Gee sometimes. My Uncle Dave calls me _bel_ –" She stumbled on the word. "I don't remember how to say it." The moment her name exited her lips he felt his chest constrict. Penelope had chosen the name he'd liked. For some reason words were escaping him and he couldn't open his mouth. So instead of him speaking, she started again. "I've seen you before," she stated, sitting cross-legged in front of him.

Finally he found his voice. "Where did you see me?" he asked in a ragged voice.

"You're all over my house," she said, blinking several times with her large doe-like eyes. "And sometimes, when Mommy thinks I'm not looking, I see her crying over one of the pic –" Again she struggled with the word. "I don't remember how to say that word either. But she looks at the thingy and she says 'Come back to me.'" She sighed heavily. "I don't like seeing my mommy sad. I think she's sad a lot."

His heart clenched at the thought of Penelope still grieving for him. But he understood her pain. It was the same pain he'd felt for the three years of his imprisonment. He missed her with every fiber of his being and he wished he could have been with her the last three years to raise their daughter. Imagining her alone was like cutting himself down to the bone; it grieved him that much. Tears filled his eyes and few even trickled down his face.

In that moment he'd never hated Ivan Drakoni more.

"Do you know who your daddy is?" he asked, testing the waters. It was possible Penelope was waiting until later to tell Gigi about him.

Sure enough, Gigi shook her head. "No," she said. "All my friends have daddies and I ask Mommy why I don't have a daddy and she tells me one day she'll tell me about him…when I'm old enough." She cocked her head to the side. Derek almost choked; it was just like he used to do when he was a kid and asking his father a question. "Do _you_ know who my daddy is?" she asked with wide eyes.

He didn't know if Penelope would want him to spring this on their daughter, but he was going to get Gigi out of Drakoni's grasp, even if it meant he ended up dead. He wanted her to know from his mouth that he was her father. Nodding, he said, "I know who he is."

Gigi's face became excited, like she'd forgotten she'd been taken from her mother and locked away. Apparently his daughter was fearless. "Who?" she asked eagerly. "Who is he?"

Putting his hand over his heart, he said in a haggard voice, "I am. And I love you and your mommy so, _so_ much."

Gigi's dark brown eyes widened and her mouth formed a small "o" shape. "_You_ are?" she asked quietly. "_Really_?" He nodded again, this time unable to speak. By now tears were rolling down his face. He hadn't felt so much emotion in three years. Never did he anticipate this moment, the moment where he first met his daughter, to be this powerful. It was so strong his whole body was rocked with the force of it. He'd imagined the moment so many times over and over in his head. Three years had left him with eons worth of time to think about it. Each time had been different. He never thought he would be this affected by it. In fact, most of his captivity he thought he would die before meeting his child. And before he knew what was happening, the little girl had thrown her arms around him and was clutching him like a life raft. "Daddy!" she cried happily. "I've always wanted to find you…now I have a daddy, just like my friends!"

At first he was so startled by her reaction that he didn't know what to do or say. But it only lasted a moment. The next second he was hugging her back, tears pouring down his face in swift currents. "I'm going to get you out of here, Gigi," he promised. "I'm going to get you back to your mommy."

"Okay, Daddy," she murmured against his chest, still clinging to him.

Aside from when Penelope said "I do" to him at their wedding, two words had never sounded better to Derek's ears.


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Shorter chapter, this one. Thanks for the reviews too, guys! I appreciate each and every one of them :) Hope you like this one…it's all Penelope.**

The team had officially decided to tie the murders and Gigi's kidnapping together. When Penelope returned to the station after Hotch's revelation, the rest of the team had given her a wide berth. Rossi had called them ahead of time to let them know. Penelope was extremely grateful because if any of them got near her and started trying to talk to her about Gigi's kidnapping she would likely rip their heads off. She was in a state of panic and she was quickly trying to think of a plan to find her daughter. The law, due process, it didn't matter at that moment. After Derek disappeared, Penelope started to toughen herself. Guns didn't scare her anymore and neither did the men who wielded them. She could handle herself if she found the bastards who took Gigi.

All that scared her was losing her daughter the way she'd lost Derek.

Sitting down at the table where her computers were, she started to type furiously, the lights of the screen flashing before her eyes. She was going so fast they were almost like fireworks blinking across the sky. Different plans started filtering through her brain, many of them being tossed into a mental trashcan. No one knew where the Drakonis housed their drugs or their fighting rings. It was most likely she wouldn't be able to find them either, but she had to try something. As she was scanning through Ivan Drakoni's records, her eyes landed on his home address. It was a posh apartment building where he lived, one of the finer ones in DC. She glanced at her watch. It was nearly eight in the morning. She'd gotten no sleep in the past twenty four hours and she didn't anticipate it coming to her anytime soon.

Hurriedly, she scratched out Drakoni's address onto a piece of paper and slipped it into her purse. She didn't care how long it took; she was going to do her own personal surveillance on the bastard until she led him to her daughter. Closing her laptop, she looked around for her fellow teammates. They were all gathered in the center of the precinct, all of them ready to give the profile on Ivan Drakoni and his band of thugs.

It was the perfect opportunity for her to sneak around and get items for her trip. She'd collected all the information on Drakoni she would need, now she just needed the gear. In her purse she already had Derek's old Glock; she carried it around with her after she got over her fear of guns. All she needed now was a GPS device to stick to a car, binoculars, keys to one of the SUVs, and coffee, all of which could be found in the police station. As she slipped around gathering the necessary tools, she caught brief parts of the profile.

"It's most likely Gigi will not be harmed immediately," Prentiss said. "If they are holding Derek Morgan – her father – alive, then they will most certainly be using her to torture him mentally before they do anything."

Penelope halted momentarily, wondering how long she truly had before someone hurt Gigi. And if Derek was indeed alive, how she was going to get the both of them out of there. Shaking her head, she threw the things she needed in her bag and kept the keys concealed as she left the building.

No one noticed her as she exited the building.

XXXXX

As Penelope was driving to Drakoni's apartment building, her cell phone rang with an unknown number as the caller. Frowning, she answered it. "Hello?"

"Hello Penelope." Her blood froze. It was the auto-tuned voice from three years ago. The auto-tuned voice that told her Derek was dead. "It's been a long time now, hasn't it? What…three years?"

"Where have you taken my daughter, you son of a bitch?" she spat, pulling over into a vacant parking lot.

"Oh, she's safe…for the moment." He snickered. "And anytime someone tries to get near her cell, her daddy threatens to rip off their arms. It's really quite amusing, the obvious love he has for the child, though he hasn't met her ever."

She had to suck in a breath. Derek was indeed, one hundred percent alive. What state she would find him in she didn't know, but he was alive and she was going to get him to safety. "I want my husband and my daughter out of there," she said. "What do I have to do for you to let them go?"

"Humph," he said. "If you can find us on your own, we may be able to come to some sort of an arrangement. But only if you find us on your own. Leave your Behavioral Analysis Bulldogs at home."

"Oh, I'll find you. That's a promise. And it's not the BAU you should be worried about…it's me. Because when I find you, you will wish you'd never laid a hand on either my husband or my child."

Another snicker. "I guess I'll be seeing you soon then." The phone was hung up and a ringing dial tone started from it.

Clenching her fist around the phone, Penelope closed her eyes and started the car again and started to drive in the direction of Drakoni's apartment. The drive was short and when she made it to the building, she grabbed the GPS tracker and parked across the street. Exiting the car, she peered around the street before going to the parking garage attached to the apartment building. Drakoni owned and drove a classic BMW and it wasn't hard to find. After identifying the car, she stuck the device on under the front bumper of the car. The tracking device she held in her hand flared up with the red dot that symbolized Drakoni's car.

Now all she had to do was wait for the snake to leave its hole.

XXXXX

It wasn't until nightfall that Drakoni left his apartment and started his car.

All day Penelope had spent sitting outside the building, drinking coffee and watching the comings and goings. The whole day had been quiet, save for the buzzing and vibrating of her cell phone. Every single member of the team had tried calling her, but each time she'd ignored it. She was still fuming about the secret being kept from her that Derek might be alive and that she could've saved Gigi. Particularly at Hotch for not allowing the others to tell her. So she was going to ignore them. Besides, if she didn't go alone, the Drakonis might hurt or kill Derek and Gigi.

As soon as the little red dot started to move on her tracker and the BMW came into view, Penelope started her engine and sat still a short moment before pulling out and started to tail the car. Gritting her teeth, she clutched the steering wheel until her knuckles were stark white. Blood was racing through her veins like a bolt of lightning. She had to make sure to stay far enough behind that he wouldn't suspect she was tailing him. At one point she got stuck at a red light and Drakoni managed to escape her sight. "Thank God for GPS," she muttered to herself, honking at the driver in front of her when he went too slowly through the traffic light. According to the tracker, he'd stopped, whether at a final destination or not she didn't know. They'd reached a more shady part of town with lots of rundown buildings and empty lots. Penelope shivered just looking at them. Thinking that her daughter was in a place like this for even a minute made her gut feel rotted out and brought tears to her eyes. Thinking that Derek had been in a place like this for three years was a knife to her heart.

When she finally caught up to him again, she realized he had parked his car in a lot that had scattered about in it a few other luxury cars. There was no one in his car and she assumed he'd headed inside the building that had a giant "No Trespassing" sign bolted on the door. Taking a deep breath, Penelope shut the engine off in the car. The building she was about to enter and where the Drakoni Ring's headquarters were supposedly housed was a rundown looking red brick building that had broken windows that were all dark. At one point she thought it might have been an industrial facility, but apparently now it housed drug lords and fighting rings.

Striding forward, Penelope began to scour the building, looking for a back entrance to sneak in and find her family.


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**SURPRISE! ANOTHER ONE! Another just Penelope chapter.**

**Warning: Contains violence and torture.**

"She's not answered her phone all day," Prentiss said worriedly, biting her nails around ten o'clock in the evening. She looked at Hotch. "Hotch, we've got to find her. She'll do something stupid. We know she will because when it comes to Gigi she'll do anything."

Rossi nodded in agreement. "And if she thinks Derek is alive then that ups the ante tenfold," he said. He looked at the rest of the team, all of them desperate to find the missing Penelope. "Prentiss is right…if we don't find her, she's going to get herself killed."

Hotch nodded. Guilt was consuming him. He should've told Penelope before they took Gigi. Now they might both be in serious danger. The signs showed on his face and JJ noticed first and said, "Hotch, don't blame yourself for this. We'll find them."

All Hotch could do was say, "Get another analyst in here to check her computer and see what she did last on it. It may lead to some clues about what she was doing and what the plan is."

XXXXX

Penelope was making her way around the back of the building, Derek's glock stuck in the back of her pants. She made sure to stay against the building. There were only a few cars in the back lot, most of them fancy and she groaned. The place might be crawling with druggies. Coming across a door, she put her hand on the knob, ready to open it.

"Well, well," a gruff voice said behind her. "Who are you?"

She stopped when the point of a knife poked into her back. "And what have we got here?" He pulled the gun from the back of her pants and tossed it aside. "Can't have you using that, can we?" A hand wrapped around the back of her neck and yanked her away from the door. Pushing her against the brick wall, the knife was put against her throat. The man who had pushed her against the wall was tilting his head to the side and grinned viciously. "Oh, I know who you are," he said, grabbing her chin and holding it in an iron grip. "You're Morgan's bitch. Cute little girl you've got."

"Where's my daughter?" she managed to get out. "What have you done to her?"

He shook his head. "C'mon you stupid bitch," he laughed. He opened the door and shoved her inside. "You wanted to come…so let me give you the grand tour."

"Take me to my daughter, you asshole!" she hissed. "You called me saying if I found you that we could negotiate her release. Now take me to Ivan Drakoni so I can do what was promised."

"Haha!" he snickered, pushing her down a dark corridor. "Oh you'll see Ivan. Just not until I'm done with you. See, I told your dearly beloved that I was going to have a little fun with you at some point. I'm going to make him a little film. It'll be fun! You get to be a movie star!"

A shot of fear ran up her spine. This man's grip was bruising the back of her neck and she was thrown into a small, almost supply closet like room. She hit the wall with a hard thud. After the gun had been taken from her, she was unarmed. He shut the door and grinned. From his pocket he pulled a nightstick and aimed it at her. "You're very pretty," he said, starting to prowl around her. "I get why Morgan married you. You are a _nice_ piece of ass."

She glared at him, but didn't say anything. When he got to close, she slammed her palm into his nose and he backed up. "Back off," she growled.

He wiped a trace of blood from his nose and started to snicker. "And you're a fighter," he said. Raising his nightstick, he used it to strike Penelope across the jaw with it. A sting broke out and blood filled her mouth as she bit her tongue. Her hand instinctually went to her face. He hadn't broken her jaw, but there would be a large bruise there any moment. "Oh, I'm gonna enjoy this," he said, bring up the nightstick again to strike her knee. The blow made her cry out in pain and she fell to both knees where he held up the nightstick again and struck her against the side of the face, knocking her out cold.

XXXXX

A moan escaped Penelope's lips when she woke up and a terrible pounding was making her head feel like a nail was being pounded through her temple. She tried to move arms, but for some reason she couldn't and she noticed he'd bound her hands with rope and her arms were tied around a water pipe near the wall. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw the man polishing his nightstick. He noticed she was awake and laughed. "Morning sunshine," he sang.

"Go to hell," she spat through her sore lips.

"Ooh," he said. "Maybe not sunshine." Kneeling down in front of her, he said, "I'm Marley, sweet." He stuck out his hand, but then looked up at the ceiling to laugh. "Oh, wait! You can't shake my hand. They're tied up!" Laughing, he said, "Silly me." Picking up his nightstick again, he struck her again, this time across her chest. "Showtime," he said, picking up the video camera and putting it near her face. "Anything to say, dearie?"

She remained quiet. She wasn't going to give this bastard the pleasure of speaking.

He shook his head. Rummaging in his pocket, he pulled out a lighter and flicked it on so that the orange flame was twinkling in front of her battered face. "Maybe I need to speak a little bit louder? Or maybe I need to do something. Like. This?" And then he put the lighter to her neck and kept it there until her flesh blackened. It was then that she screamed. The fire and pain mixed together and she couldn't take it. He then took it to the other side of her neck and did the same to it. He made sure to keep the camera in her face. Smiling, he turned the camera towards himself after a few moments and said, "Here that, Morgan? It's the sound of your lovely Penelope's pain. To me it sounds like a symphony, but what does it sound like to you?" Stroking his chin like he was puzzled, he snapped his free hand's fingers and added, "Oh! What if I do this?" Flipping the camera around to face Penelope again, he struck her once again with the nightstick until finally another scream came out of her throat.

Her head was bent down so far it was touching her sternum. Using as much strength as she could manage, she said gruffly, "Is that all you've got, you son of a bitch?"

"No…" He leaned down and grabbed her face, slamming his mouth onto hers. She had to resist the urge to vomit, so she settled for sinking her teeth into his lip. This time it was him who howled; she'd taken a chunk clean out of him. He wiped the blood from his lip and brought the nightstick down against the side of her neck. "Believe me dearie, this is nothing compared to the worst I'll be giving you. I'll do things so awful to you, you'll be begging for death before I'm even half done." He paused, as if trying to come up with some bright idea. "Maybe I'll bring your hubby in here to watch the whole thing. He'll love to see me do all sorts of nasty, terrifying things to you. Like cutting you up into tiny little pieces. I bet he'd _love_ to see every single second of it. You know, in the evening when he's curled up on the floor of his cell, the same way as a dog – maybe like your dog that you have? Clooney, is his name? – he cries out for you in the middle of his dreams. Like a baby. True, he doesn't sleep all that much. But when he does…well, let's just say it's you he cries out for and you who makes him cry in the middle of it all. I'll make all those nightmares come true for him." He made a pouting face. "Little Gigi would be motherless. Pity. I guess she'll have to grow up with me."

Breathing raggedly after the blow to her neck, Penelope said, "You won't touch my daughter. Even if I'm dead, my team will find her and they'll keep her safe from scumbags like you for the rest of her life."

Marley laughed. "You know, Morgan said the exact same thing to me just a few days ago," he said. "Something about her saving the world from scum like me and that you would raise her to be a kind girl." He shook his head and laughed. "Guess that'll never come true now." And he proceeded to take a pocket knife from his pocket and flip it open. "Let's see what I can do with this…"


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Thank you guys for the reviews…I know I always say this, but it's always true: I love getting them :) They brighten my day. I also want to apologize for all the mean stuff I'm inflicting on the Morgans. I promise it will get better. My sister always yells at me for being mean to my characters in my original works…I guess my meanness is rubbing off into my fanfiction.**

Hours had passed since Penelope had followed Drakoni to the Ring's headquarters. By now Marley had cut and burned her countless times. Blood had trickled and dried from the slashes on her arms, her chest, and her face. Moving at all released a fierce pain in her body that felt like someone was scorching her bones and insides with a blow torch. Each time she moved her head even the slightest centimeter, the pain was so intense that it was impossible not to let out a soft cry. At first she'd resisted Marley's wish to have her screaming, keeping her lips sealed shut and bracing herself for each blow, cut, or burn. But it became too much to keep in. What had started off as a mere smacking around had transformed into pure, unadulterated torture.

"Ready for death yet, dearie?" Marley snickered. His knife was poised over her collarbone as he waited for an answer.

"I would never leave my daughter willingly," she managed to say. "So you'll have to keep it up." The knife slashed across her skin, digging down deep. A small whimper escaped her throat and she earned another laugh from Marley.

Before he cut her again, a vibrating sounded from his pocket and he rolled his eyes. "'Scuse me, dearie," he said. "I'll right back." Checking the phone's text that had come, he grinned widely and turned to Penelope. "Well, it looks like Drakoni's ready to see you." He strode towards her and flipped his knife out again to cut her bonds that kept her tied to the pole. Her arms that had gone numb from hours of being tied up fell limply to the ground and she gritted her teeth, trying as hard as she possibly could not to cry out. Marley grabbed her by the hair and tugged her upward. "Let's go," he growled.

XXXXX

Gigi had fallen asleep on Derek's lap and he was busy watching the drug lords who were walking through the warehouse warily. None of them were paying any mind to him or Gigi, but he was still watching them like every single one of them was going to try and take his daughter. He kept his arms firmly around her, protecting her every second that passed by. If anyone came near her, they'd die before laying a finger on her.

As he watched Gigi sleep, Marley started banging on the cage. Derek hadn't even noticed him come towards them. He'd been too focused on his daughter.

"Morgan!" he hollered. "Get up…Drakoni wants to see you."

Glaring viciously at him, Derek spat, "I'm not leaving my daughter here."

Shaking his head and snickering, Marley said, "No matter. Bring her with you. Drakoni wants to make a deal with you. Or rather, have you listen in on a deal."

Derek stayed where he was, studying Marley's face. He was unsure of whether or not to get up and follow him with Gigi still with him, but he really didn't have a choice. "Fine," he said gruffly. Tenderly, he started to stand up, Gigi still in his arms. She started to stir and her tired diminutive brown eyes opened, still glazed over with sleep. She looked up to meet his eyes. "Hey sweetie," he whispered. "We're going to move somewhere else okay? You can go back to sleep."

"Where're we going Daddy?" she yawned.

He kissed her forehead. "Shh," he said. "Go back to sleep."

Her answer was leaning against his chest and closing her eyes again.

"Pfft," Marley said as he led Derek out of the cell. It was clear he thought Derek's show of affection was pathetic. "Make one move and I use the nightstick on your precious little angel." Derek held Gigi close to him as Marley pushed Derek along the corridor towards Drakoni's office. He'd not wanted to kill the bastard more than when he threatened to hurt his child. "We've got a little surprise for you."

Derek didn't say anything. He just kept walking until they were outside Drakoni's door. Marley opened it and pushed him inside so that he stumbled when his toe hit the carpet. "Morgan!" Drakoni said. He was sitting behind his desk, smoking his usual huge cigar. A huge Cheshire-cat grin lit up his face like it was Christmas morning and someone was delivering him a new batch of potent product to make millions off of. "And I see you've bonded with your little Gigi. She's absolutely adorable."

Scowling, Derek said, "Marley said you had a surprise for me. What is it?" It was then he saw a blonde haired head in the huge leather armchair chair sitting in front of Drakoni. His gut dropped to the ground and he rushed to the chair, kneeling down next to it. What he saw made him feel sick all of the sudden, like he would vomit any second. Before him sat his wife, bloodied and bruised and breathing with difficulty. Her eyes were shut and it was as if she was trying to block out all sounds. He used one of his hands to touch her cheek and when she let out a whimper, he knew she was in an unworldly amount of pain. "_Penelope?_" he gasped.

Slowly her eyes opened and when they fell on Derek and Gigi, she let out a cry and tears fell from her eyes and down her cheeks. "Is it really you?" she cried, sliding forward in her chair to get closer to him. Both her hands went to his face and she said, "It _is_ you!" She ignored the burning, furious pain running through her limbs. "Oh, Derek!" Despite the cuts on her forehead and the pounding pain in her temple, she leaned her forehead against his. "And you have our little girl…" She began to sob hoarsely, touching Gigi's cheek in the process. The little girl slept on, but her mother began to stroke her hair all the same. "You kept her safe. I knew you would."

Tears were pouring down his own cheeks and he moved some of her hair from her face. "I'm so sorry, Penelope," he wept. "I lost a fight. It's all my fault that you're both in this mess." Staying close to Penelope's side and still holding Gigi, he looked up at Drakoni's unsympathetic face. "What have you done to her, you monster?" he demanded. "What has she done to you? Nothing!"

Drakoni shook his head. "She chose to come here to rescue your daughter," he said unforgivingly. "She made her choice."

"You tortured her!"

"She came with the intention of making a deal," Drakoni said. "I thought I'd bring you here to hear how the whole affair goes down." Directing his attention to Penelope, he smiled thinly. "You came here to make a deal, Mrs. Morgan. So here's my proposal: you can choose to stay here in exchange for your daughter being released. You'll be here for my own personal use to do whatever I require. You will only be allowed to see your husband once a month. But for all this your daughter will be set free."

Derek glared at him. "Let them both go! I'll do anything, Drakoni! Anything you want!" he cried, clutching his daughter to him tightly and remaining glued to Penelope's side. "They're innocent."

"You lost that fight," was his simple answer.

"The drugs were bad!" Derek pleaded. "You know they were."

Drakoni shook his head. "Not my problem," he said.

Suddenly Penelope's voice broke through. "I'll do it," she whispered. Her voice was full of defeat and she sounded as if the life had been drained from her. "Just let Gigi go."

Gently, Derek asked, "Can you hold her?" He nodded towards Gigi's sleeping head. She nodded and he placed her gently on Penelope's lap. Turning to Drakoni, he suddenly took on a dangerous stance. His glare was thunderous and his body language was one ready for a fight. "Let my family go, Drakoni," he growled. "This will end poorly for you if you don't."

"What do you possibly think you can do to me?" Drakoni asked with a smirk. He tilted his head to the side and stared at Derek menacingly.

"You're about to find out," Derek hissed.

XXXXX

"Sir!" Detective Sanchez cried with excitement, rushing towards Hotch. "Agent Hotchner!"

"What is it, Detective?" Hotch asked tiredly. He'd not gotten much sleep in the last forty eight hours and he didn't have time to deal with the over active detective's actions.

"Penelope took a GPS tracking device," she said, breathing heavily like she'd just run a marathon to get to him. Now Hotch's interest was piqued. He began to listen intently. "Each tracker comes with a portable device to take on the road, but they're also on the computer. One of our techs just found the signal for one of them blinking." She grinned. "We have the location where Penelope must have gone!"

Hotch didn't spare a single moment. "Get your SWAT teams in place and get them ready while I get my team gathered!" he ordered. "We're going as soon as everyone's ready!"


	11. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**I apologize profusely for the delay on this getting out! Thank you for the reviews again my lovelies and I hope you enjoy this next chapter. It's the one before the healing begins. Let me know your thoughts :)**

"What do you think you're doing?" Drakoni said incredulously, his infuriating smirk still present on his face. Derek wanted nothing more than to wipe it off his face using a razor blade. "I own you, Morgan. You're _mine_. My prized fighter. And now so is your family. You know what I can do to them."

"Then keep _me_," he said, his hands now clenched into fists. He was trying, but the rage he'd felt for the past three years and that he'd kept bottled up inside himself was starting to make his control falter. "My family has nothing to do with this." He looked at Penelope, who was still cradling Gigi, to make sure she was still okay. She was looking at Drakoni with hate blazing in her usually kind brown eyes. "Let my family go!"

By now Gigi had begun to stir again. She let out a yawn and blinked several times. Her doe-like eyes were still glazed over with sleep slightly. "Mommy?" she cried in surprise and delight. She threw her arms around Penelope's neck and clutched her tightly. "Mommy, I found my daddy!" She pointed at Derek. "There he is!" It was clear she was oblivious to the situation going on around them.

Penelope ignored her pain and held her daughter tightly. She kissed the top of her head and whispered, "I know, Baby."

Drakoni shook his head. "You know my rules, Morgan," he said, shaking his head as if he were disappointed with a son. "I don't make exceptions for anyone. Your daughter may be a sweet little thing and your wife may be beautiful, but I don't care. This is a business. You lost me half a million dollars and you have to pay me back."

"Let my daughter go!" Penelope said venomously. Her glare was one that could freeze Hell over. "We were going to make a deal. Keep your word, you bastard."

Marley went behind Penelope and grabbed her by the hair, yanking it back until her blue and purple bruised throat was exposed. "Show some respect, bitch," he snarled, getting down close to her face and hissing in her ear.

Derek went ballistic on him and launched towards him furiously. Marley didn't even have time to grab a weapon before he was against the wall, Derek's fist in his face. "You can beat me all you want, but the moment you touch my wife or child in a way that could even _scratch_ them, you will get what you deserve," he growled, watching as Marley's face went straight to shock. Derek put his hands around his neck and gripped it. His satisfaction grew with each shade of red Marley's face turned. The rest of the world disappeared and he let his fury take hold of him as he strangled the man who had tortured him for three years, the man who'd taken his daughter from her life, the man who'd tortured his wife.

Before he could finish the job, a gunshot rang out.

Gigi began to cry and Penelope held her head to her chest so she wouldn't have to see anything. Derek turned around to see Drakoni holding his gun up in the air. He'd fired a shot into the ceiling. Marley was hacking and coughing, clutching at his neck where Derek's hands had been a moment ago. "That's enough Morgan," Drakoni said hardly. He pointed the gun at Penelope and Gigi. "I'll shoot them if you do one more thing."

Immediately Derek froze. Penelope had her eyes squeezed shut and was holding the wailing Gigi as tightly as she could. He put his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright," he said frantically. "I'll stop."

"Good boy," he said, still pointing the gun at Penelope and Gigi. Using one finger, he made a "come here" motion and Derek strode forward to him, trying to make sure he stood in front of Penelope so she wouldn't be shot. Drakoni pointed the gun at Derek now and smirked. "You know Morgan," he began. "I thought I could make this work with you. But you are replaceable." He cocked his gun and put his finger on the trigger. "It was nice while it lasted, but I'll find myself a new star." Tilting his head to the side, he said, "My apologies to your daughter for killing you in front of her."

"NO!" Penelope screamed as the shot rang out from Drakoni's gun. Derek slumped to the ground in front of his wife and she knelt beside him. The emotional pain for three years ago was back as he fell to the floor in a heap. Gigi was still hanging onto her neck and sobbing and Penelope dropped to her knees.

Drakoni laughed and started to come towards them and aim his gun at her. "You see, Penelope…he broke the rules. And I don't take kindly to people who break my rules." She hardly heard him. She was weeping over Derek's motionless body where she was urgently trying to apply pressure while at the same time trying to protect Gigi. He opened his mouth to continue to rant about Derek's betrayal of him, when the sound of yelling could be heard from outside the office. Penelope was even more deathly afraid, her emotions speeding out of control. She shot backwards from Derek's body, still clutching her daughter.

Making sure to hold Gigi's head to her chest so she couldn't see the gun, Penelope whispered, "Keep your eyes closed, Gee," she whispered. Her tears were falling into her mouth, the salty taste reminding her that Drakoni had just shot and killed Derek before her eyes. She felt like her heart was breaking all over again, same as three years ago when he'd disappeared.

Drakoni had stopped aiming the gun at her and Gigi to pause. The smug look on his face had fallen and he looked genuinely frazzled by what he was hearing outside his office door. Frowning, he reached down to grab her roughly by her arm, the pressure of his rough and calloused hand stinging the deep slashes there. He yanked her up.

"Give me the girl!" he demanded. He knew with Gigi he might have a ticket out of the building.

Penelope shook her head, tears still pouring down her face. She bit her lip and her eyes squeezed shut a moment. She was trying to banish the moment before her eyes, but it simply wouldn't happen. Shielding Gigi from the lumbering Drakoni, she put her daughter down to stand in front of her. Gigi was still holding on to her legs and sobbing. She shook her head. "No! You took my husband from me…you won't take my daughter too!"

Drakoni grinned maliciously before barking, "Marley! Hold her down!"

"With pleasure, boss," he said. Before Penelope had a chance to pick Gigi up and bolt, Marley had her in a fierce grip and was restraining her from taking her daughter. Her arms were tightly wrapped behind her back and she began to kick out as fiercely as she could. As she was dragged away from her daughter, she fought violently.

Gigi didn't understand why her mother was being taken from her and she tried to rush to her. "Mommy!"

"Let me go!" she screamed at Marley, still battling his grip. She was in panic mode. Her body was going into overdrive and she was sweating viciously as she worked, but got nowhere. "Gigi, run!"

Gigi stopped and blinked her bloodshot eyes at her mother. "Mommy, what are you – hey!" she cried, waving her small arms frantically through the air as Drakoni hoisted her into his beefy arms. She began to wail and beat her tiny fists against his broad chest. They looked miniscule against it. Drakoni began to bolt from the office and Gigi's terrified face stared after her mother, begging for rescue. Her screams still echoed in the office, even after she disappeared.

Penelope's hysteria only grew worse. "Gigi!" she shrieked violently, pulling against Marley. "No! Gigi!"

Marley thrust his hand to her neck and hissed in her ear. "I've got you all to myself, you little bitch," he said. "And we're going to go someplace else and –"

"No you won't," a hard voice said. Aaron Hotchner appeared in the doorway, his gun pointed at Marley. His gaze was unforgiving. "Let Penelope go and I won't put a bullet in your brain."

"Let me go and I'll consider sparing her," Marley sneered.

Hotch didn't even hesitate; he alternated his aim and shot Marley in the arm. Penelope let out a surprised cry and fell out of Marley's grip as he clutched his arm and let out a holler of pain. She didn't waste any time; she crawled on unsteady knees to Hotch where he caught her in his arms. Sobbing, she said, "Derek…he's – he killed him! He took him from me again!"

Her whole body was on fire and she looked around with wild, almost animal eyes. Hotch rubbed her back comfortingly. "I'll call a bus," he told her calmly. "I need you to keep your cool."

"Gigi! Drakoni took Gigi!" she screamed. "He took my daughter! We have to get her back before he hurts her, Hotch!"

Hotch shook his head. "We caught him," he said. "We got her back. She's safe and with JJ right now."

All of the sudden her breathing grew faster and faster until she was sobbing so terribly she fell to her knees. "I need – I need –" The sounds of everything and everyone faded from her ears and turned to ringing only. Her vision began to blur and she grasped at her neck wildly. Then her head began to spin so terribly that she felt the need to vomit. It was as if her life was flashing before her eyes, but she began to fall backwards until she landed in unconsciousness.


	12. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**The healing's about to begin, so hang in there guys! Thanks for the kind reviews and I hope you enjoy :)**

The paramedics arrived in full force in the office of Ivan Drakoni and checking the vitals of Derek in a flash. Hotch couldn't stop staring at his old friend and colleague. The three years he'd been in captivity had taken a drastic toll on his physical appearance. His once well-built, healthy frame was much thinner and withered, many of his ribs visible even to the hard of seeing. His elbows jutted out sharply and there were dark indentations beneath his eyes from sleepless nights. Blood was pooled around his chest where Drakoni had shot him and the medics were working frantically to save his life. He was in extremely critical condition.

"Sir, what seems to be wrong with her?" another paramedic asked, snapping on a pair of rubber gloves before kneeling down beside him and Penelope's still form.

Almost choking on his words, Hotch managed, "She passed out. There are severe torture wounds." He nodded in Marley's direction where a furious looking Rossi was handcuffing him. Purposefully, Rossi squeezed his bullet wound and an earth-shattering howl escaped the thug's mouth. Hotch had to bite back a comment of satisfaction at the display and the visible pain in his eyes.

"Keep that one handcuffed to a bed," he ordered the paramedic. With a black scowl, he added, "and don't give him any pain medication." Judging by the state of Penelope, he assumed the paramedic wouldn't object to his request.

"Will do, sir," the medic said. "But right now I need you to give us some space. You can follow us to the hospital."

Hotch nodded and stood up, watching briefly the scene around him before exiting the office. Rossi was told to follow him out and they met up in the hall, both of them rubbing their faces. The sound of Gigi screaming and crying out for both her mother and now her father could be heard ringing through the building. JJ was making every attempt to comfort the little girl, but it was proving to be impossible.

"Where's Mommy and Daddy?" she wailed against JJ's chest sounding like a banshee. "I want Mommy!"

"Sweetie, Mommy's not feeling well right now," JJ soothed, stroking her hair and trying to calm her down. "She needs to see a doctor to get all better." She picked up the little girl and started to take her out of the building. All along the way she fought and kicked like a wild animal, screaming for her mother.

"This has been one hell of a night," Rossi said, standing next to Hotch. He looked at Hotch's guilt-ridden face and clapped him on the shoulder. "Aaron, this isn't your fault, what happened to Penelope and Gigi. You can't beat yourself up about this. You couldn't have known she would follow Drakoni."

It didn't quell Hotch's feelings though. Deep down in his heart, he knew he would never feel less guilt than he felt now at that very moment.

XXXXX

Penelope woke up to the beeping of a monitor and a saggy, droopy feeling in her limbs. She attempted to sit up, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her from completing the journey upwards. Blinking several times, Penelope looked and saw JJ sitting at her bedside. When she shifted slightly, she noticed that on her bed, sleeping next to her was Gigi. Her daughter was curled up into her side and holding her waist gently.

"Hey…" JJ whispered calmly. "How're you feeling?"

She stared at her friend. Tears filled her eyes and fell down her face silently. Pain filled her heart and she whispered, "He's dead. They took me from him again." She sniffled. "Derek's gone for real this time."

"No, no!" JJ murmured, stroking some of her hair back from her face. "No, Penelope. He's alive. He's been hurt terribly, but he made it through. He's going to recover." She took hold of her hand. "You didn't lose him, honey. He's just in the ICU right now."

Penelope looked at her with tear-filled eyes. "JJ, please don't lie to me," she wept. "I can't go through this another time."

"I'm not lying, Garcie," she whispered, holding her hand tighter and giving it a squeeze to show her comfort. "Derek's just hurt. He's going to recover." There was nothing but truth in her gaze as she spoke to Penelope and she saw it very plainly.

She was not lying.

Derek was alive.

"Can I see him?" she asked hopefully. "Please, can I see him?"

Reluctantly JJ shook her head. "Not right now, sweetie," she said. "You can't be moved yet. But we can go and see him tomorrow."

"He protected our little girl while she was with those horrible men," she whispered, looking down at her daughter and stroked her hair. She'd never been so happy to see her daughter in all her three years with her. Having Gigi taken away from her and a long separation was the most painful thing she'd ever had to endure. It had been the feeling of having her heart ripped out of her chest and nothing but an empty hole being left in its place. It was the worst possible pain she'd ever gone through aside from when Derek had been taken.

Thinking of what had happened to Derek and how he'd been beaten and forced to take harmful drugs and fight against his will was like a knife between her ribs. It was an explosion in her chest cavity that cased her lungs to collapse. Still holding Gigi, she looked at JJ again. "How bad is it for him?" she asked, dreading the answer. "What did they do to him?"

"I don't think I –" JJ tried to say.

"Tell me," Penelope demanded, her voice harsher than she intended.

JJ sighed. "The drugs caused an infection in his body," she said. "There must have been some harmful chemicals in them that caused it. He's also had several bones that were broken before and never healed properly. He'll not walk the same ever again."

Her gut dropped. "You mean, he won't be able to be an agent again if he wanted to go back to it?" she asked in a deathly quiet voice.

"Most likely not," JJ said. Both of them knew how much Derek loved what the BAU did. If he wanted to go back, he would never be able to go into the field again. "What matters is he's back and he's here with you and he's met his daughter. He's safe."

"Mommy?"

Penelope looked down at her now awake child and stroked her cheek. "Hi sweetie," she said, wiping her cheek. "Will you give me a hug?"

Gigi sat up and hugged her mother. "Mommy," she started, "where is my daddy?"

Penelope kissed her daughter's head. "He's safe, Baby," she whispered, hugging her child close to her. "He's going to be okay."


	13. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I own nothing…if I did Morgan and Garcia would be happily married and have miniatures of themselves running around.**

**Here's the 12****th**** chapter! Shorter, but fluffier. Sorry it's taken me so long to get it out…I've been uber busy! Anyways, thank you for the reviews kind people :)**

Both Penelope and Fran sat vigil by Derek's bedside as soon as the doctor said she was allowed out of bed. He'd not woken up yet, but his surgery had been difficult with the previous injuries he had sustained and the infection running rampant through her body. Penelope had refused to let go of his hand. She feared if she did he might slip away from her again and she wouldn't be able to endure it a second time over again. Gigi, too, was in the room and had planted herself on Fran's lap. In the mere seventy two hours she'd known her father, she'd grown attached to him. She wanted to curl up on the bed next to him and the doctor said it would be alright so long as she did it on the opposite side of his gunshot wound.

"Mommy?" she asked, tugging on Penelope's shirt sleeve. "When's my daddy gonna wake up?" She pointed at Derek's slumbering form.

Penelope looked at Gigi and smiled slightly. "Soon, sweetie," she said optimistically. "He has to get better before he can wake up."

Gigi smiled. "He's a nice man," she said with a toothy grin. "When we were in that cage, he kept all the bad men away from me and told them to go away and leave me alone." She continued to tell her mother and grandmother all about Derek's protection of her. "And he told me he loves us very much, Mommy." She nodded her head once, matter of factly.

It warmed Penelope's heart to hear Gigi idolizing her father already. She always knew if she found Derek and got him back that Gigi would love him. The two of them were so similar. Kissing her daughter's forehead, she murmured, "I know he does, Baby." Her gaze returned to Derek's face and she squeezed his hand. "I know he does," she repeated.

XXXXX

Fran took an exhausted Gigi home at seven o'clock with Hotch to keep an eye on the house for the time being. Penelope was staying by Derek's side however, in case he was to wake up. She leaned her head down to lay her cheek against his thigh. Her eyes couldn't contain her grief anymore. Now that she was alone, she was willing to let every last one of her emotions show. "Come back to me," she whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks and wetting the hospital bed sheets. "Please, _please_ come back to me, Hot Stuff. I can't live without you. And neither can Gigi. We both love you so, so much. So you have to come back to me!"

"Huh?"

Her head shot up from its place on his lap and she saw Derek's eyes blinking, trying to adjust his vision to the fluorescent lights of the room. She let out a gasp and rose from her seat to sit on the edge of his bed. Wrapping her arms around his much slimmer frame than when she'd last embraced him, she buried her face against his neck. Her tears now wet his skin and a hoarse sob escaped her throat. When his arms wrapped around her, she felt complete once again.

"I knew you were alive," she whispered. "I knew you weren't dead!" She pulled backwards to look him directly in the eye. Her hands grasped his cheeks. "I missed you so much, Derek."

He rested his forehead against hers and breathed in her familiar strawberry scent he'd dreamed about all those years he'd been locked up. "I thought of you every single day," he said. His voice sounded like it had been dragged across a field of glass. "I'm so sorry I lost that fight. If I had won –"

She put her finger to his lips to silence him. "We have you back now," she said firmly. "Gigi has her father. I have the man I love. We're going to be a family." Then she placed her lips gently to his in a tender kiss that contained all the love she felt for him. "I love you."

He kept his arms firmly around her waist and held her back and he whispered, "I will always come back to you, Baby Girl. No matter where we are."

XXXXX

"Daddy, you're awake!" Gigi cried with excitement the next day. "You're awake!" She screeched to a halt in front of his bed. A grin was stretched across her face and her eyes were twinkling like gems.

He smiled widely at her and Penelope moved to help her sit next to her father. Putting his arm around her, Gigi leaned into him and sighed, wrapping her small arms around his waist, hugging him like a teddy bear. "Hi Gigi," he said, loving that his daughter was beside him. Fran had just come into the room as well, smiling at the display of father-daughter affection. Derek was so busy listening to his daughter tell him all about her morning and how she had to feed Clooney all by herself. "Clooney's a nice dog," she continued. "Do you like dogs?"

"Your daddy is the one who bought Clooney, honey," Penelope explained with a fond smile. "So he _loves _Clooney."

Derek nodded in agreement. Gigi's infectious grin, so similar to his own, lit up the room and she clapped her hands together. "Oh goodie!" she exclaimed with excitement. A knock sounded from the door and her head shot towards it. "Uncle Spencer!" she gushed. She waved excitedly and pointed at Derek. "Look Uncle Spencer! It's my daddy! Do you know my daddy?"

Reid smiled and strode forward, hands in his pockets. He kissed the top of Gigi's head. "I do know your daddy, Gee," he said, smiling at Derek. He patted Derek's shoulder gently. "It's great to see you up and in the flesh. How're you feeling, Morgan?" he asked, sitting down in a chair beside Fran.

Derek smiled. "I'm doing just fine," he said, kissing the top of his daughter's head. "Perfect in fact."

Penelope had to wipe away a tear from her face as Derek and Reid talked, Gigi bouncing around in between them and trying to show the men certain funny faces she could make. A warm feeling filled her body and she felt content. It had been three years since she'd felt this kind of calm and serenity. She had her family back…and that was what mattered most.


	14. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Here's the next chapter! Thank you lovelies for the wonderful reviews :) Hope you liked this one!**

"So his leg is never going to function properly again?" Penelope asked with her eyes welling up with tears. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was standing in the hallway outside her husband's hospital room. Fran had joined her and they were both talking with Derek's lead physician. The news was not looking good.

The doctor nodded solemnly. "He's going to have to walk with a cane from now on," she said. "And he'll be in a lot of pain. We're going to have to put him on pain medication…which he'll be on for likely the rest of his life."

Penelope rubbed her forehead and looked into Derek's room where he was playing patty cake with Gigi. He was never going to be a field agent again. The news was going to crush him. She turned back to the doctor. "Doctor, there's nothing you can do?" she murmured. "Absolutely nothing?"

She nodded. "I'm very sorry, Mrs. Morgan. He's not going to be able work in the field if he chooses to return to the bureau." Her pager beeped at her side and she was forced to leave. "I'm sorry. I've got another patient."

When Fran and Penelope were left alone, Fran asked, "Penelope, what are you going to tell him.

She looked at her husband and daughter again, playing like nothing was wrong in the world at all. "The truth," she said. "It's all I can do for him."

XXXXX

Derek loved every second of being with his daughter. She was fearless and funny. Penelope had raised her wonderfully.

"Daddy, when you get all better, we can play with Clooney together," she said, sitting cross-legged next to him on the bed. "He has a favorite ball that I bought him once day when we were at the pet store. It's blue, because that's my favorite color. What's _your_ favorite color, Daddy?"

He smiled. "Well, I like a lot of colors, but I would have to say my favorite color is green," he said decisively.

"Green is cool too," Gigi said with a nod of her head. Suddenly she perked up and added, "Oh, and we can play other games too! Mommy likes to play games when she's not working." She looked up at the door when it was opened. "Ooh! There's Mommy now!" She sat up on her knees and waved. "Mommy! Daddy and I are going to play games when he gets better."

Penelope smiled and kissed her daughter's forehead. "Do I get to play too?" she asked, putting her hands together to beg.

"Yes. Yes, you can," Gigi said, nodding and wrapping her arms around her.

Hugging her back, she said, "Honey, Grandma's outside. Can you go see her while I talk to Daddy real quick?"

"Do I have to?" Gigi asked grudgingly, sighing and rolling her eyes.

Rubbing her back, Derek said, "Just for a little while, okay?"

Gigi nodded vigorously and grinned. "Okay, Daddy," she said, rising from the bed and hopping to her feet. She bounded out of the room to join Fran while Penelope sat down where her daughter had vacated. She took Derek's hand and touched his cheek.

"What's wrong, Baby Girl?" he asked. "You look…off."

She sighed and took a deeper breath. "Baby, we've got to talk," she said. "While you were in captivity, and your leg broke at one point, it damaged it so bad from not healing properly that…" She could hardly finish talking. This was going to break him. "If you wanted to go back to the Bureau, you wouldn't be able to because your leg isn't going to function properly." He was silent for a long time and she pulled him towards her to wrap her arms around him. "I'm sorry," she whispered into his neck. "I wish I had better news for you."

His arms pulled her into him as well and he murmured, "You know? I don't mind. Not at all." He pulled back and cupped her cheek. "I love helping people and stopping terrible people, but I love my family more. While I was in captivity, the only thing I thought about was you and Gigi. I didn't think about my job at all. It was just you two."

Tears filled her eyes and she kissed him softly. "I'm still so sorry," she whispered. "I'm glad you're taking it so well."

"I'm going to take care of Gigi," he said confidently. "At some point I'm going to have to get a job, but we'll figure that out when the time comes."

"Derek Morgan as a stay-at-home-dad?" she laughed. "Gigi will love this so much." She smiled and giggled. "You know…when I told her a story one day, I told her about a Prince who called a girl 'Baby Girl' because he didn't remember her name."

He started to laugh. "That would be a pretty good story," he said. Kissing her forehead, he asked, "Will you tell me the story?"

"Can I join you?" Gigi asked, poking her head in the room again. "I loved that story! Mommy's so good at telling them. A lot of them are about this Prince who falls in love with this beautiful girl. The only problem is they always wait like ten years to get married!"

Pulling her eavesdropping daughter onto her lap and kissing the top of her head, Penelope said, "Of course you can, Baby." So leaning against Derek, she stroked Gigi's hair and began to tell the story of the man who called the woman he loved 'Baby Girl.'

XXXXX

_1 Week Later_

"If you have no more questions," the doctor said, "we can get you discharged in the next day or two. The infection and pesticides left your system, but you'll have to come in regularly for us to check on your leg." She produced a plain wooden cane and handed it to Derek. "This is temporary so if you want to find a new one that's customized to your taste."

Derek took the cane and observed it carefully. Grudgingly, he said, "You got it Doc."

Penelope rubbed his arm and Gigi took the cane from her father and started to wave it around. "What is this, Daddy?" she asked curiously, almost hitting him in the face.

"Not something for you to play with," Penelope said with a smirk, taking the cane from her daughter before she whacked someone in the face with it. She mimicked Gigi's pout and kissed her forehead. "You'll survive."

"Meh," Gigi grumbled, her shoulder slumping.

Hesitantly Derek began to stand and took a few steps using his new cane. Picking up Gigi, Penelope went forward to join him and took his hand. "You're doing great, Hot Stuff," she said.

Though he was much thinner and he was more frail, Derek seemed to be making progress. His steps were unsteady and his face was set in a hard expression, but when he looked at his wife and daughter, he smiled. "I think you might be right, Baby Girl," he murmured.

She cocked an eyebrow at him and said, "It happens occasionally."


	15. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Here's the next one! Hope you all enjoy :) Thank you for the reviews!**

**Warning: Rated M…just to be safe.**

_6 Months Later_

"Alright, you all know what time to be there?" Penelope asked, clapping her hands together and fixing her team with a stare, but also the hint of a smile underneath. She'd been back to work for three months after Derek had been returned to her and already the team was noticing a difference in her. The old Penelope trickling back into their lives and she was returning to how she'd been before Derek had been taken from her. And at the moment her flamboyant party-planning skills were making their appearance to plan Gigi's fourth birthday party. "Bossman, you're dropping Jackers off tomorrow at ten before you're picking up Fran, Sarah, and Desiree?"

Hotch's eyes went wide. "I was supposed to do that?" he said in shock. Penelope's face dropped and he shook his head and smiled. "I'm just kidding, Garcia. I'll drop Jack off at ten."

JJ smirked. "Nice Hotch," she laughed. "Give Penelope a heartattack."

Glaring at them all, she said, "Just be there at noon. And don't tease me. I have a lot to get ready."

Rossi smirked as Penelope hurried off. "This will be interesting," he said, earning the snickers of the rest of the team members in the round table room.

XXXXX

Derek had grown used to his cane six months into his return home. The physical limitations weren't what hindered him the most. Adjusting was the hardest part of being home. He didn't know how the world had changed while he'd been locked up. Gigi and Penelope were the only things that made sense to him. There wasn't anything else he felt he needed.

His therapist told him weekly he needed to find ways to reinsert himself into society, but he found that it was more frightening than he thought it would be. Technology had changed, music was different, people who knew him treated him with caution. He didn't know how to react all that had changed while he'd been away.

What he found most difficult was the noise. _Everything_ was loud. He'd spent the last three years of his life in relative silence and coming back to the racket of the world was almost traumatic. His only solace in the life he'd returned to was his family.

Limping into the kitchen after putting Gigi down for a nap, he heard the door open and his wife call out to him. "Hot Stuff! I'm home!" She came into view and put her purse down on the table before dropping a kiss on his lips. He held her around the waist a moment and smiled widely at her. He'd never take for granted holding her in his arms. "Where's Gee?" she added, looking around at the oddly still house.

"She's laying down," he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of their daughter's bedroom. "The two of us went to the park today with Clooney and she got all tuckered out from that."

Penelope smiled at him. "Hope she's not too tired for her party tomorrow," she giggled happily against his shirt. She'd not felt this blissful in a long time. Things with Derek had been hard and they had fought on a few occasions about his occasional habit of retreating within himself, but she had him back and in her arms. He was no longer only visible to her by picture. He was tangible, touchable. No one was keeping him from her.

Leaning on his cane, he tweaked her nose. "I don't think she'll be too tired for that," he said confidently. He frowned a moment. "Do you think she'll like everything?" There was a small amount of uncertainty in his gaze and she put her hands on his cheeks before kissing him softly.

"You don't have to worry your gooey chocolate center over a single thing," she said. "Gigi is the happiest I've ever seen her. And it's all because of you. Kids used to tease her because she didn't have a daddy and the thing she told me as soon as she started talking she wanted to meet her daddy." Tears filled her eyes and she choked past a lump in her throat. "_You_ are what makes her most happy, Derek. Gigi loved you even before she met you."

Derek smiled and kissed Penelope deeper than he had a moment ago. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she melted into him, relishing the feeling of intimacy between them. They hadn't had sex at all since he'd been back and they were both starved for each other. "How long ago did you put her down?" she asked breathlessly.

"Just before you got home," he answered, trailing his lips down her neck.

She pulled away, panting. "Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked, looking him deeply in the eye to make sure he was okay with it.

"Baby Girl, I've been without you for three years," he growled huskily. "I'm more than sure I want to do this."

She smiled coyly. "Good," she said, pulling him by his shirt collar into a hungry kiss. They started moving towards their bedroom, Derek leaning against the wall and keeping his weight off of his bad leg. His fingers began to crawl up the skirt of her dress until it was hiked up around her hips and he could see her tiny purple underwear. A moan escaped her lips and the fabric of his shirt tangled between her fingers. She was burning with desire and judging by the franticness of his movements, he was too. Their breathing had increased rapidly, moving as one. Hastily she turned the doorknob to their bedroom and the stumbled in. When he winced, breathing deeply, she said, "Baby, are you okay?"

He nodded. "I'm fine," he panted, capturing her lips again. His fingers crept up her back and he unzipped her dress, letting it pool at her feet after it fell down her body. She stood in her matching bra and panties and he grinned at her. "Damn Baby Girl, you've still got it going on in a major way."

She smirked and started to tug his t-shirt up over his head. "Let's get you naked, Hot Stuff," she said. He was considerably thinner than before, but he was still just as beautiful. His chest was covered in new scars and she placed her lips gently to each and every one of them. At first he didn't know how she would react his body being so different, but she proved to him there was nothing to fear; she loved him in any form he was in. Tossing his cane aside, he put his fingers on hers to steady them as she worked on the button of his jeans. She sighed with pleasure as his hands grasped her behind and swatted it playfully.

Unclasping her bra, he let it slide off her body and he took in the sight of her breasts, round and full and all his. He caressed them and pulled her closer to him, feeling the need to have her closer than she already was to him. His fingers tweaked her rock hard nipples and he crushed her moan with another kiss. Falling backwards on the bed, she looked up at him and beamed. She made a "come hither" motion and he crawled carefully on top of her, being careful of his knee. Taking one of her legs, he raised it up and started to slide her panties off.

"Ohhhh," she moaned as his finger trailed up her drenched slit. She bit her lip and tossed her head back so her throat was bared for him to suckle on her pulse point. A strangled cry of delight escaped her mouth as his lips took one of her budded nipples in his mouth. "Oh God, Derek!"

"I'm right here, Baby," he whispered, stroking her core and eliciting another moan from her throat. Slowly he inserted a finger, then two inside her scorching heat and began to thrust them in and out and she had to fight to keep from screaming with all the pleasure roaring through her body. She spread her legs wider, an invitation for him to go deeper. An invitation he gladly accepted.

"Please, Derek!" she cried out.

"What do you want, Penelope?" he gritted. He was so hard he could hardly think straight with all the desire for her raging in his veins.

"I want…I want…" she whimpered with pleasure. She fell apart in orgasm before anymore words could escape her. When she regained her breath, she looked up at him to see him grinning down at her. She smiled weakly back. "Make love to me, Handsome," she whispered when her breathing had steadied. "NOW!"

He smirked and pushed his boxers down. "As you wish, Baby Girl," he said, burying himself deep inside her with one fluid stroke. Both of them groaned in unison. He thrust over and over and she lifted her hips to meet each one, wonderful and unearthly pleasure filling both their bodies. Pulling her up so that she was in his arms, he slowed down his strokes so they were making slow, sweet love. He kissed her deeply as they climaxed together and his release poured into her.

Afterwards they both stayed intimately connected and in each other's arms. She sagged in his arms and the happiness of the moment brought tears of joy to her eyes. Sniffling, she laid her cheek against his bare chest and let her tears wet his still warm skin. "Baby, what's wrong?" he asked, kissing the top of her head.

"I'm s-so ha-happy I have you ba-back," she wept against him.

He laughed and held her closer, both of them falling against the sheets wrapped together. Wincing slightly about his knee, he adjusted it so he was comfortable and kissed Penelope again. "I love you, Baby Girl," he whispered. "I'm not going anywhere. Not ever again."

XXXXX

"Mommy? What time is Uncle Hotch bringing Jackers over tomorrow?" Gigi asked at the dinner table. Her little legs were swinging from her chair and her elbows were resting on the edge of the table. She looked up at Penelope with hope in her eyes. Gigi idolized Jack Hotchner.

"He'll be here at ten tomorrow morning, honey," Penelope said, pouring her daughter a glass of apple juice. She'd just finished getting dinner for them ready and kissed the top of Gigi's head. "You gonna eat all your veggies tonight?"

Gigi stuck her chin out. "Only if Daddy does too," she said indignantly.

Penelope had to hide her smirk as she called out, "Derek! Gee's wondering if you're going to come and eat all your veggies too?"

Derek came around the corner into the kitchen, leaning on his cane and smiled the very same grin Gig started to beam at him. "Of course I'm going to eat _all_ my veggies," he said, settling down in his chair and leaning his cane against the table. "I love veggies!" Gigi giggled and took a hesitant bite of the peas on her plate.

"They're not that bad," she said with a sigh.

Smiling at her husband and daughter who were virtually doppelgangers of each other, Penelope kissed both of them on the top of their heads and sat down in her chair to eat dinner with her family.


	16. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**I'm so sorry this is late getting out! I've had some stuff going on with family and haven't had much time to write. I hope this meets expectations and it should be the last one before the epilogue :) Enjoy and thank you for the reviews!**

There were currently six young children running around in the Morgans' backyard for Gigi's fourth birthday and Emily, Rossi, and JJ were running around with them while they played a game. Jack was with Henry and the two of them were playing a video game, Jack at the controller while Henry looked over his shoulder at his every move. Derek watched jealously out the patio glass door as his daughter ran about with the pack of children and at his friends who were able to run with them. Sighing, he leaned against his cane and rubbed his face with his free hand. Watching his rambunctious daughter made him think about the future and how he would never get to do things actively with her. Would she want to ride bikes all over? Would she want to be a runner and go on regular jogs? Either way, he wouldn't be able to do any of that with her.

"You know, your daughter isn't going to not want to spend time with you if you can't run around like she can," Reid said, coming up next to him with a bottle of beer for each of them. "She loves you just the way you are and understands – even in her young state – that you can't."

Derek shook his head. "Penelope told me kids used to tease her for not having a father," he said grudgingly. "What if later in the future they tease him for having a father with a bum leg?" Popping the top of his beer, he took a quick swig. "Or if people find out what happened to us? I never wanted my child to have to live with stories surrounding her about a drug ring that kidnapped her father and held him hostage and then took her because he failed. I wanted to keep her away from the shit we deal with, but it just came upon her and she didn't deserve any of it." He paused to correct himself. "Dealt with in my case I suppose."

"Morgan, the only thing that will matter to her is that she has you," Reid assured him. "Rumors aren't going to bother her, and even if kids found out and taunted her, she'd be strong enough that it wouldn't get to her." He turned to look at his friend more directly. "I've known your daughter since she was born and let me tell you: she's just like you. Something like gossip about your family won't hurt her. She too strong for that."

Smiling fondly while still looking at Gigi, Derek said, "I know my relationship only has spanned six months and a few days in a cell, but there's no one more important to me than her. I would do absolutely anything for her." He glanced into the kitchen where Penelope was frantically working to finish decorating Gigi's cake. "And for her mother."

"And they both know that," Reid said firmly.

Derek finished looking at his wife – something that was very hard to do as she was dressed in a shirt that showed off her perfect cleavage unintentionally. "That's very comforting Reid, but even if Gigi wouldn't notice things that are pathetic about me, it doesn't mean I can't. What the hell should I do? I can't go into the field…the doctors all said the same thing: they can't fix my leg. I can't be a stay-at-home-dad forever, fun as it is."

"Hmm…" Reid was thoughtful for a moment. A moment later he snapped his fingers. "Morgan, what if you lectured? You could educate cadets on past cases and teach about profiling! It would only be a few days a week with really flexible hours and it would enable you to work while you took care of Gigi."

Looking curiously at Reid, Derek's face slowly lit up into a grin. "Pretty boy, you're a genius!" he boomed.

"Well, I do have an IQ of one hundred and eighty and eidetic memory," Reid pointed out, not catching on to Derek's play on his intellect.

"I'll talk to Hotch, see what he says," Derek said just as Gigi and her herd of five friends came charging up the patio steps towards him and Reid. He knelt down, wincing in the process and trying to banish his pain, and opened his arms.

"Daddy!" Gigi squealed with delight as she threw herself into his hug.

"Hey Princess," Derek cooed, hugging her tightly and kissing her cheek. "Are you having fun?"

Gigi nodded vigorously. "I'm having lots of fun, Daddy," she said with a toothy grin. "And these are all my friends. Will you say 'hi' to them for me?" She looked at him anxiously, desperately wanting his approval of her friends.

Derek nodded and put on his best grin to smile at all Gigi's friends. "Hi there everyone," he said, giving a small wave.

One of them looked at him with wide eyes and said, "Wow! We didn't believe Gigi at first when she said her daddy was home!" The rest of them nodded their heads in agreement, but were stopped short by Gigi's stern glare.

"Well he is home," she said defiantly. "So now you have to believe me because my daddy's not going anywhere ever again."

Derek's gaze met with Reid's and he almost fell over laughing at his friend's blatant _I told you so!_ face. He was right; Gigi was just like him. Pulling his daughter close, he kissed the side of her head. For as long as he lived he would cherish that moment because his daughter was completely right; he wasn't going anywhere ever again.

XXXXX

When Penelope looked up from placing the fourth and final candle on her daughter's birthday cake, she saw all of Gigi's friends crowded around the birthday girl and Derek. They were all keenly interested in their friend's now-present father.

"Penelope, do you have a moment?"

Penelope looked up from the cake to see Hotch standing in the kitchen entryway. He had a hesitant expression on his face. The last six months had been rocky between him and Penelope ever since Gigi had been kidnapped. She'd been sure to keep a distance because deep down she was still very angry about him not telling her about Derek possibly still being alive.

Nodding, she said, "Yes, I've got a few moments." Taking off her apron, she folded it up and set it on the counter. "What's up, Hotch?"

Hands in his pockets, he said, "I know the last six months have been long for you with Derek back and the therapy. And I know that you're still mad at me about what happened. I just wanted to apologize more thoroughly. You were right. I should've told you about Derek being alive. Maybe if I had, Gigi would've never got taken."

She was silent for a moment. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Hotch, I accept your apology. And I'll get over it eventually. I just…I'm just so happy to have my family back. And you're part of that family." She smiled kindly. "I'm glad you could be here for Gigi."

One of Hotch's rare smiles made an appearance. "I'm glad too," he said. "Jack picked out the present. He thought it was very Gigi."

"Oh! That's sweet!" she said happily. As she was picking up the tray, Hotch sprang forward and offered to take it. Grinning, she allowed him to take the cake. "Thank you," she added. She was relieved she was making up with Hotch. It was hard, but Gigi being taken had taken a toll on her.

"It's not a problem," he said, following her out of the kitchen. They took the cake out onto the patio and all the kids flocked around Hotch, excited to have sugar coming their way.

"Hey Birthday Girl! You gonna come and blow out the candles on your cake?" Penelope called to Gigi.

Gigi came rushing towards her mother and nodded vigorously. "Ready, Mommy!" she said excitedly. She sat down in her chair as Penelope plopped a hat down onto her head. "I get to make a wish, right Mommy?"

Penelope kissed the top of her daughter's head. "Yes, Baby," she said. "You get to make a wish." Her eyes looked up and met Derek's and she could've sworn she saw tears glistening in his eyes. Motioning for him to come stand by her, she wrapped her arms around his waist when he reached her and they watched together as their daughter blew out her candles and her friends and BAU family sang happy birthday to her. Closing her eyes as he rubbed her back with his free hand, Penelope murmured, "See, Hot Stuff? I told you she would love everything."

He laughed and kissed the top of his wife's head. "You're always right, Baby Girl," he murmured in her ear. "I learned that a long time ago."

"Hmm," she purred as his arms wrapped around her from behind and he kissed her cheek. "I'm glad." She closed her eyes and kept her cheek against his as he leaned forward and put his again chin in the crook of her neck.

"Eww!" Henry cried, pointing at the two of them. "Uncle Derek, Auntie P! You're being gross!"

JJ and Rossi began to crack up while Emily snickered. "Yes Henry, yes they are," she said, ruffling Henry's golden haired-head.

"They're not gross, Henry!" Gigi protested. "They're my mommy and daddy!" She ran over to Penelope and through her arms around her waist. "You're not gross, are you Mommy?"

Leaning out of Derek's arms, Penelope picked up Gigi and kissed her cheek. "Nope, we're just a fairytale," she said, as Derek pulled them both into his arms and kissed the tops of their heads.

**A/N: Epilogue should be up pretty soon. It's almost done.**


	17. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**So here's the epilogue! We shoot forward pretty far time wise, but it wraps up…thank you for the kind reviews! My next fic is in the works :)**

_16 Years Later_

"In the case of the Boston Reaper the BAU ended up determining that George Foyet was the Reaper," Derek was explaining to a room full of FBI cadets. He was leaning against his cane, clicking through a slideshow of articles and crime scene photos from the case that had very nearly destroyed Hotch's life. "Foyet was able to inflict the same wounds on himself that he'd inflicted on his victims to make it appear to law enforcement that he was the one and only person to survive." A hand raised and he used his cane to point at the cadet whose arm was up. "Yes, Turner?"

The petite auburn haired cadet nodded. "Agent Morgan, is it true you actually fought with the Reaper?"

At the time of the case and the following years after it would have embarrassed him to talk about his encounter with the Reaper that had taken him close to Death's doorstep that Foyet had used as a way of taunting him. As he'd gotten older though, he'd learned to forget the shame he'd once felt. Plus, the event was a helpful teaching about narcissistic personalities.

Nodding, he said, "Yes, that little fact is true. What happened was we ended up through a window and I passed out from a good knock on the head. He left a bullet for me as a reminder that he could've killed me. But what does this tell us about the Reaper's profile?"

A voice close to the door spoke this time as a slim young woman bearing a striking resemblance the man conducting the lecture.

"From everything known about the Reaper, the most well-known fact is that he was a major narcissist and sociopath."

Derek smirked. "And what does that mean in this case?"

The imitated this smirk to a T. "Foyet got off on the power he had over others," she explained. "So he also wanted victims to know it was him killing them. If you were unconscious he didn't get the satisfaction of that."

Derek nodded. Before he opened his mouth again, he glanced at his watch. The lecture had to end early; he had a previous engagement that required his attention. "Well, we're out of time for today. I'll see you all next week." He waved his hand in dismissal and the room began to empty of people. Fixing his daughter with a look of teasing sternness, he said, "Gee, what have I told you about showing up all the cadets in my lecture hall?"

Gigi rolled her eyes. "C'mon Dad," she snickered. "It's not every day a girl gets to come home from Columbia to bust in one a lecture conducted by one of the FBI's finest." She laughed and stepped into his open arms. "I missed you, Daddy," she said.

He kissed her forehead. "Well, you're the one who wanted to move all the way to New York City for school," he said. Tapping her nose, he added, "I'm glad we're doing this surprise style for your mother," he said. "She was so bummed when you said you couldn't make it."

"Yeah, well Mom blows every secret out of the water," she huffed playfully. "So if we wanted Uncle Dave surprised, telling Mom would've been a stupid move." She watched her father trying to put on his jacket while holding his cane at the same time and snatched it from his hand to make the process easier for him. "Dad, how many times do I have to tell you to hand me this when you need both hands?"

Scrunching his brow into a frown, he adjusted the collar of his jacket before taking the cane back from Gigi. "Humph," he grunted as the two of them headed out the door. "I can do just fine, thank you. Don't start acting like your grandmother on me now."

"Grandma Fran's a smart woman," Gigi pointed out.

Derek just grunted.

"Eh, don't worry. I act too much like you to do that," she assured him.

Derek just smiled, a twinkle lighting up his eyes.

XXXXX

Penelope was running around her house, ushering her three children who lived at home still towards the garage to get into the car to go to Rossi's surprise birthday party at JJ and Will's house. Derek would be meeting them directly there after his lecture finished up. She was extremely upset that Gigi wasn't able to make it, but she had to buckle it down if she wanted Rossi's party she'd helped plan to be perfect. It had been almost a year since she'd seen her daughter and it was killing her. Being apart from any of her children was hard for her since Ivan Drakoni had taken Gigi all those years ago. At first when Gigi had said she wanted to go to Columbia to study Psychology she'd been worried because Drakoni and Marley had been sent to Sing Sing Prison in New York, a mere few hours' drive from the city.

"_Mom, I had Natalie do a little…research –" eighteen year old Gigi was trying to say._

_Penelope cursed. "Georgiana Morgan, how many times do I have to tell you not to encourage your baby sister's bad habit of hacking? It got me into a lot of trouble back in the day."_

"_May I remind you, Mother, that had you not hacked you wouldn't have met Daddy," she chimed in._

_Penelope fixed her with a glare. "You shouldn't tell her to do that, still," she huffed._

"_This is beside the point," Gigi said. "Anyways, I had her look up both Ivan Drakoni and Marley O'Malley. Marley got into a fight in prison and was killed by his own knife. As for Ivan Drakoni, his charges of two murders, the possession of enough drugs to take over a small country with, and human trafficking, he'll be in jail for another sixty years and he's got no parole coming his way. We're safe as if we were locked up in a cellar and it was locked from the inside."_

_Penelope was silent for a good ten seconds before Derek entered the kitchen looking nervous. "You still have your heart set on Columbia?"_

_Gigi nodded vigorously. "Daddy, I've worked hard to get into that school," she said. "I studied my butt off to get all fives on those AP tests and a thirty-four on my ACT and a perfect score on my SATs. I'm going to that school…whether you like it or not."_

_Both Derek and Penelope shared a skeptical glance._

_Huffing, she said, "Aunt JJ taught me everything she knows about self-defense. I'll carry mace AND pepper spray. I'll make sure not to go anywhere alone at night and avoid alleys." They still looked nervous so she added, "I'll call you both every night to let you know I'm alive."_

_Derek grinned; that was much better._

_Penelope's eyes teared up. Her oldest daughter had always had a fearless streak, just like Derek in his younger days. The other children of the house – Gemma, Evie, and Natalie – had more of their mother's personality (Natalie taking on her mother's skills in hacking.) Sighing, she pulled her daughter into a hug and whispered reluctantly, "Okay…but I want you to be careful. No super dangerous stuff."_

_Blinking innocently, Gigi said, "What? So that means no bungee jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge?" She laughed at her mother's petrified face and said, "Kidding Momma."_

"Gemma, do you have your Uncle Dave's present?"

"Yeah," her fifteen teen year old child said. She came forward carrying a package that contained a bottle of expensive classic scotch. "Evie and Nat already headed to the car. We're all ready to go."

Smiling, Penelope went forward to kiss her daughter's forehead. "Then let's get going."

XXXXX

"Gigi, _bella_!" Rossi boomed going forward to kiss Gigi on both cheeks. "We didn't know you were coming! I didn't expect you to be here…your mother's been moping for two weeks so I figured something was up with you."

Gigi smiled. She'd changed in the bathroom into a navy blue party dress and heart necklace that she hoped Jack Hotchner would appreciate. She'd always had a special place in her heart for him and when they'd started a semi-dating relationship it had only gotten worse. He may have been six years older than her, but that didn't stop them one bit. They were smitten. "We didn't tell Mom because we didn't want her spilling the beans. I'm surprised this party was even a shock to you; surely she must've let something slip."

Rossi grinned. "Nope," he said with a grin. "Not a thing slipped from that mouth of hers."

All around them party guests were showing up and Gigi was looking around for the rest of her family. She couldn't wait to see her mother and sisters. Meeting her father's eyes, she noticed he looked relatively nervous as he was glancing around the room. As far back as she could remember, her father had always displayed signs of worry about every person around him outside of their family and the BAU team. Gigi knew it had to do with his time in captivity when he'd been forced to fight and was beaten mercilessly by members of the Drakoni drug ring. Her heart bled for him every time they were out in public or gathering with lots of people.

"Hey Uncle Derek…Gigi…"

Gigi turned around to see Jack standing with his hands in his suit jacket's pockets. Grinning widely, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "Jack!" she cried. Pulling away, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "I missed you!"

He smiled sheepishly before moving a lock of hair behind her ear. "We only saw each other last month," he said shyly, glancing nervously at Derek. He knew well that his uncle would beat the shit out of him – no matter who his father was – if he hurt Gigi or broke her heart.

"_Gigi_!"

Turning away from her boyfriend, she smiled widely when her baby sister – probably the most intelligent girl she'd ever met and already an intrepid hacker – Natalie running up to her. She hugged her tightly. "Hey Nat!" she said. "How're you doing? Staying out of trouble, I hope."

Natalie shook her head. "Nope! Always up to no good, I am." She looked behind her to see if their mother was following along. "Mom must not have known you were coming. She's been sulking for a few weeks now. It's kind of like when Gemma went away to summer camp and she stared out the window a lot." Turning around again, she smiled when she saw Penelope coming in with Gemma and Evie tailing behind her. "Hey Momma! Look who's here!"

Penelope looked to where her daughter had directed her attention and her mouth dropped open. Immediately she rushed towards Gigi and was hugging her tightly. "Why didn't you _tell_ me you were coming?" Pulling away, she turned to her husband and glared at him. "Did you know about this, mister?" she demanded. "Because if you did I'm going to smack you upside the head!"

Derek threw his hands up in surrender and pointed one of them at Gigi. "It was her idea," he said.

Gigi fake gasped. "Traitor," she grumbled. Looking at the hurt expression on her mother's face, she kissed her cheek and added, "It was mostly so it would be a surprise for Uncle Dave. And no offense, Momma, but you can't keep a secret worth a damn."

"Oh," Penelope said like it was no big deal all of the sudden. She put her arm around Jack next and fixed him with a smirk. "You treating my baby with decency, Jackers?"

Groaning, Gigi cried, "Mom! Leave him alone! Jack is wonderful." She put her arm around his waist, pulling him away from her mother, and laid her head against his chest.

Jack's face lit up a hundred degrees and he looked like a cherry tomato.

Penelope grinned. "I'm just messing with you Jack," she said in an attempt to calm his nerves.

Suddenly a blare came from the microphone at the makeshift stage that had been set up in front of a dance floor. It was Reid, standing awkwardly with his haphazard tie and vintage sports jacket. Smiling crookedly, he said, "Well, to start of this shindig, we'd like to start off with a toast to Mr. David Rossi. Dave, the day you retired from the BAU was one of the saddest in its history. You were an incredible agent, profiler, and are an even better friend." Raising his glass, Reid added, "So if everyone would raise a glass to David Rossi, let's honor him with a toast."

"Dave!" Everyone raised their glasses and drank a toast to Dave Rossi.

XXXXX

Penelope and Derek were swaying gently to a slow dance that was on at the request of Rossi so that he could dance with Strauss. Derek's dancing was rather difficult and had been for the past sixteen years, but if he held his cane in one hand and had his arm around Penelope's waist it worked out quite nicely.

"Sorry this isn't exactly normal," Derek murmured in her ear.

"You always apologize for that, Hot Stuff," she whispered back. "You should know that it's never bothered me. Ever." Running her nails in a small circle on the back of his neck, she added, "That cane is pretty sexy too."

He grinned and kissed the side of her face. "I love you, Baby Girl," he said, pulling away from her cheek and kissing her fully on the lips. He nibbled on her bottom lip a moment and she giggled.

Touching his face gently with one hand, she looked him deeply in the eye and whispered softly, "The happiest day of my life was when I got you back. If I hadn't and you were still in that horrible place, Gigi would never have gotten her father and we never would've had our other three beautiful daughters. I'm never going to lose you again."

He glanced around the dance floor at his daughters: Gemma dancing with Emily's son Brandon, Evie sitting with Natalie and Henry, and Gigi's forehead resting against Jack's, both their eyes closed. He smiled softly before returning his gaze to Penelope and kissing her again. "You never have to…I'll always come back to you."

Smiling, she said, "Good."


End file.
